# Do herbal sleep remedies like valerian or chamomile work?

> Is the capsule or the cup doing anything, and is it safe beside whatever else you take? For valerian, chamomile, lavender and magnesium, the trials have a fair amount to say about both.

**In short:** Herbal sleep remedies add little in trials, and often nothing anyone can be sure of. The better nights people notice are real all the same, and much of that is their own, since it comes on a dummy pill too. A nightly cup of chamomile is a fine thing to keep[^1][^2]. The real risk is the drowsiness a remedy may add to alcohol or a sleeping pill[^3], and in chamomile alongside warfarin[^4].

By the time you're reading about valerian or chamomile, you've probably tried the obvious things already: less coffee, the phone put away earlier, a bath before bed. Perhaps you bought a bottle of valerian or a magnesium powder, and the first few nights went better before the lift seemed to fade. Perhaps it's the chamomile you make every evening, and you've started to wonder whether it's doing anything. Either way, you'd like to know whether what you reach for is helping, and whether it's safe alongside whatever else you take.

In one trial, adults who signed up online with anxiety or insomnia took valerian at bedtime or a dummy pill for twenty-eight days. At the end, 89 percent of those on valerian said their sleep had improved, and so had 86 percent of those on the dummy pill[^5]. Other valerian trials found wider gaps, so this one trial can't speak for the herb in general. When researchers gathered trials of prescription sleeping pills, they found the same pattern there too, with much of the improvement on the drug coming on the dummy pill as well[^2].

Those better nights are real, and they showed on overnight sleep recordings[^2] as well as in how people felt. People with insomnia who took a dummy pill they believed in said they slept better than people given nothing at all[^6], so it isn't only time passing. Part of it is a bad patch mending, as bad patches tend to. Much of the rest seems to come from the people themselves, from expecting to sleep better, the small act of taking something and the attention of being in a study[^2]. That part is yours to keep, with or without a capsule in your hand. So the question to ask of any remedy is how much it adds on top.

**In three trials, how much of the improvement came on a dummy pill too**

Each bar is the whole improvement a trial found on the remedy. The shaded part is how much of it the group given a dummy pill reported too, and the firm end is what the remedy added on top. Each trial used its own measure, so read the proportions rather than the lengths. The trials were in adults recruited online with anxiety or insomnia[^5], adults with insomnia in Norway[^7], and adults in Germany whose anxiety came with restlessness and poor sleep, in a trial funded by the capsule's maker[^8].

Came on the dummy pill too

Added by the remedy

On the dummy pill

On the remedy

- **Valerian, 600 mg at bedtime**

- **Valerian, 3,600 mg nightly**

- **Lavender oil capsule, 80 mg a day**

**How large is the dummy-pill effect in sleep trials?**

When researchers gathered the placebo groups from thirty-two trials of prescription sleeping pills, 3,969 adults in all, they found that about two-thirds of the improvement seen on the drug also appeared on the dummy pill[^2]. It showed on overnight recordings as well as in people's own ratings of their nights. Those trials tested sleeping pills, so they can't say what a cup of tea or a capsule does on its own, but they do show where a good part of a better night comes from.

A second review asked whether a dummy pill does more than time alone. It compared people with insomnia who took a placebo they believed was real with people given nothing, and those on the placebo reported falling asleep faster, sleeping longer and sleeping better[^6]. The time it took them to fall asleep, measured by instruments, stayed the same, so the clearest gain was in how well they felt they had slept.

## Does valerian work?

If you're awake now with the bottle beside you, wondering about another capsule, it's unlikely to add much to what the first one did. Valerian may make you drowsy, though that isn't proven[^3], so please keep it away from alcohol, a sleeping pill or any other sedative tonight.

The clearest reason to think more won't help comes from a large trial in Norway. There, 405 adults with insomnia took valerian or a dummy pill every night for two weeks, and the dose was 3,600 milligrams, far larger than the usual one. By the end, 28.7 percent on valerian and 21.2 percent on the dummy pill[^7] had met the study's mark for better sleep, a gap too small to be sure it wasn't chance.

That trial and one other led the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to suggest that doctors not use valerian[^7] for trouble falling or staying asleep. Three other reviews went back over the trials and found no evidence that it treats insomnia[^9][^10][^11], at most a possible lift in how people rate their sleep.

Not everyone reads the trials the same way. An earlier team pooled six trials and found people on valerian 80 percent more likely to report better sleep[^5]. Then they doubted their own number. They spotted signs that small negative studies had gone unpublished[^5], and the trials that recorded sleep in a laboratory showed no consistent change. A later team, more hopeful about the herb, blames extracts of uneven quality[^12] and thinks the whole dried root might work more reliably. They offer that as a hypothesis, still to be tested[^12].

So what to make of it? On one side are a guideline and three reviews. On the other are a pooled figure its own authors doubted and an idea that's still a hypothesis. On that balance, valerian as it's sold now probably adds little to your sleep, though the argument isn't over.

For most adults, a few weeks of valerian is within what's been tested. People have taken 300 to 600 milligrams a day for up to six weeks[^3] without apparent harm, and in trials it left them no groggier the next morning than the dummy pill did[^5]. Nobody knows yet how it fares over years, so months of nightly capsules go past the testing. Some people get headache, an upset stomach, mental dullness, excitability or vivid dreams[^3].

If you've taken it nightly for a long time, stopping suddenly can bring some people anxiety, irritability, heart disturbances and sleeplessness[^3], so easing off gradually may suit you better than stopping at once. Liver injury has been reported only very rarely, most often when valerian was taken alongside other herbs[^3].

## Is my cup of chamomile doing anything?

Chamomile has been tested far less than its place in so many evenings would suggest. Only one placebo-controlled trial has looked at people with long-term insomnia. Thirty-four adults who had slept poorly for at least six months took chamomile capsules or a dummy pill for twenty-eight days, and their sleep diaries showed no clear difference[^13][^1]. It was a small pilot, too small to rule out a modest effect, and it tested capsules rather than tea. In a wider mix of studies, mostly in people without insomnia, chamomile was linked with somewhat better self-rated sleep[^14][^15]. The results varied widely from one study to the next, and it didn't lengthen sleep.

What the tea gives you may come mostly from the few warm minutes themselves, a cup held in both hands while the day winds down. The studies so far don't separate the cup from the herb[^14][^15], but the dummy-pill research[^2][^6] suggests minutes like those can do a good share of the work.

If the chamomile shares a cupboard with other medicines, a few things matter. In the amounts you'd drink as tea, it's likely safe[^1]. Allergic reactions are uncommon, though some can be serious, and you're more likely to have one if you're allergic to ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds or daisies[^1]. Researchers suspect it may add to the effect of sedatives[^1], though nobody has shown it does. It might also make birth control pills less effective[^1].

If you take warfarin or another blood thinner, please tell whoever prescribes it before making chamomile a nightly habit. Chamomile tea has been linked with a higher risk of bleeding[^4][^1] alongside warfarin, mostly in case reports.

**If you’d like to try something**

If a cup of chamomile helps you wind down, it's a fine thing to keep[^1]. You could make it at the same point each evening, once you've put the day's work away, and do nothing else while you drink it.

## Does lavender help, as a capsule or as a scent?

You may have met lavender as a spray for the pillow, or as a capsule on the pharmacy shelf. Researchers have studied the two separately, and what they found for one doesn't tell you about the other. As a scent, it's unclear whether it improves sleep[^16][^17]. One review of thirty-four studies of breathing in essential oils, lavender most of all, found that sleep improved. The reviewers rated those studies at high risk of bias, though, including in whether people could tell what they were smelling. That makes it hard to tell the oil from the expectation. If you like the smell on your pillow, the US government's complementary-medicine center rates it possibly safe, listing headache and coughing as side effects[^16].

The evidence for the capsule comes from one lavender oil, Silexan, taken at 80 milligrams a day. German researchers gave it to adults whose anxiety came with restlessness and poor sleep, and it eased their symptoms more than a dummy pill over ten weeks[^8], though the dummy pill helped a good deal too. When researchers looked at how it improved sleep, almost all of what it added ran through eased anxiety[^18] rather than sedation. So it may help mainly when worry is what keeps you awake.

Its maker paid for both trials. And a capsule labeled lavender on the shelf may not be the same preparation. Taken by mouth, lavender can cause diarrhea, headache, nausea or burping[^16], though in its trial side effects came about as often on the dummy pill[^8]. Lavender might add to the effect of sedative drugs or herbs[^16]. That's unproven, but please keep it away from alcohol and sleeping pills all the same.

## What about magnesium?

If you've been stirring a magnesium powder into a drink at night, you've probably met the names on the tub: glycinate, threonate, citrate and the rest. None of the trials so far tested glycinate, threonate or the other forms common on shelves[^19], so no one can yet say whether one works better than another. The few trials there are gave plain tablets to older adults, and those taking magnesium fell asleep about seventeen minutes sooner[^19] than those on a dummy pill, without sleeping longer overall. The trials were small and the certainty is low. One of them left out people who already got plenty of magnesium, so any benefit may belong mostly to people who run low, and it says nothing about younger adults.

UK health advice says 400 milligrams a day or less from supplements is unlikely to cause harm[^20], with diarrhea more likely above that.

Magnesium rarely builds up to dangerous levels in the blood, and when it does, it's mostly in people whose kidneys have failed[^21]. So if you have kidney disease, please check with a pharmacist or doctor before taking it. It's worth mentioning any other medicines you take as well, since supplements in general can interact with them[^22].

**Who was in the magnesium trials, and how much did they take?**

A review found only three small trials, 151 people in all[^19], aged roughly 51 to 80. The seventeen minutes comes from pooling only two of them, and the reviewers rated the trials at moderate to high risk of bias, with certainty low to very low.

The trials used magnesium oxide or citrate tablets giving 320 to 729 milligrams a day[^19] of magnesium itself, split into two or three doses. Two of them gave more than the UK's 400-milligram line for supplements, and in the highest-dose trial everyone had soft stools.

## Is what's in the bottle what was studied?

**If it's natural, it can't do much harm.**

A root or a flower steeped in hot water feels closer to food than to a pill. Sleeping pills come with stories of people who couldn't stop taking them, and this seems a different thing altogether.

US health authorities point out that a remedy can be natural and still be unsafe[^22], and for sleep remedies the idea stops working in two places: when you can't be sure what's in the bottle, and when a remedy that may make you sleepy meets alcohol or a sedative[^3] that does the same.

If you've opened a bottle of valerian, you'll know the smell, something like old socks. It comes from compounds in the root breaking down. In one comparison, a tincture kept two months at room temperature held less than five percent of them[^12]. The valerenic acids that makers use to standardize products hadn't changed[^12]. Whether the lost compounds matter for sleep isn't known, but it means a standardized label can miss what changes inside the bottle.

The label can tell you less than you might expect. In the US, herbs and magnesium count as dietary supplements. The FDA doesn't approve them before they go on sale[^23], so nobody there checked your bottle before it reached the shelf. The maker answers for what's inside, and the agency mostly steps in after problems appear. A label has to give the amount of each ingredient, except those inside a proprietary blend[^23]. That's how a sleep blend can list five herbs without saying how much of each it holds. And since no law limits how much of an ingredient a serving can contain[^23], each name could stand for a lot or a little. Those are the US rules; other countries treat some herbal products differently.

Then there's the dose. The trials that earlier team reviewed gave people 225 to 1,215 milligrams of valerian a day[^5]. When researchers checked thirteen common US products, the labels recommended anywhere from 75 to 3,000[^5]. That survey is old, and today's shelves may differ. Still, the dose on the bottle you're holding may be far from what those trials tested.

Hidden drugs are a separate question. Between 2007 and 2016 the FDA found 776 supplements with undeclared drug ingredients[^24]. That counts only the products it caught, and most were sold for sex, weight loss or muscle building. Nothing so far shows hidden drugs are common in sleep herbs. A trial of one extract tells you about that extract, and the bottle in your hand may hold something rather different.

Most of these trials were small and short, and many tested a single extract, so they say little about whatever product happens to be on the shelf. Researchers still disagree about whether better-made valerian extracts, or the whole root, would do more.

- **In sleep trials, people on a dummy pill improve a lot too, on sleep recordings as well as in how they feel.** good-evidence

- **A sleep guideline suggests doctors not use valerian for insomnia, as trials found little or no benefit, and newer reviews agree.** well-established

- **Valerian seems safe for most adults over a few weeks; long-term safety is unknown.** good-evidence

- **Chamomile showed no clear benefit in the one small trial in long-term insomnia, and may slightly improve self-rated sleep in people without it.** early-evidence

- **Chamomile is likely safe in tea amounts; its link with bleeding on warfarin comes mostly from case reports.** good-evidence

- **Lavender scent may help sleep in early studies, but they were rated at high risk of bias, so whether it does is still unclear.** early-evidence

- **In small trials funded by its maker, one lavender oil capsule eased anxiety with poor sleep, seemingly through the anxiety.** early-evidence

- **Magnesium may help older adults fall asleep a little sooner; nothing shows it helps everyone.** early-evidence

- **US supplements aren't approved before sale, and blends needn't say how much of each herb they hold.** well-established

## What if my nights have been poor for months?

- A run of bad nights often eases as its cause does, and a cup of tea at the same point each evening is a sound way to look after them in the meantime. If you'd like to try a remedy as well, what matters most is what it mustn't be mixed with. There's more on the hour before bed in [how to wind down when you're tired but wired](https://nitez.com/winding-down).

- When poor nights have gone on for months, the American College of Physicians strongly recommends CBT for insomnia[^25], or CBT-I, as the first treatment for all adults. You could raise it with a pharmacist or doctor, and there's more on [what CBT for insomnia would ask of you](https://nitez.com/cbt-for-insomnia).

If someone may have taken too much of a remedy, especially alongside alcohol or a sleeping pill, please call a poison line for advice, and if they seem ill or are hard to wake, please get emergency help straight away.

A pharmacist or doctor can help if:

- your sleep has been poor for months, since CBT for insomnia is the first treatment[^25] for that
- you take any medicine, especially a sleeping pill, something for anxiety or low mood, a blood thinner or the birth control pill, before you add a remedy (valerian[^3], chamomile[^1], lavender[^16])
- you're pregnant or breastfeeding, since little is known about these herbs then[^3][^1][^16]
- you have kidney disease and are thinking of magnesium[^21]
- the remedy is for a child, which [children and sleep](https://nitez.com/children-and-sleep) covers

## So what's worth keeping?

If you came here with a bottle in your hand, much of what made your better nights was already yours. You expected rest, and you set the evening aside for it. A capsule adds little to that, so what matters most about it is what it might meet among the other things you take. The same goes for a pillow spray or a scoop of magnesium powder.

You could try a remedy for a few weeks, keeping it away from alcohol, sleeping pills and the medicines above. You could leave the bottle on the shelf. Or, if your nights have been poor for months, you could put the money towards CBT for insomnia. Whichever you choose, the kettle will still cool on the counter. The evening you set aside for rest was doing its share all along.

## Related questions

- [What is CBT for insomnia, and what would it ask of me?](https://nitez.com/cbt-for-insomnia)
- [Is it okay to take melatonin every night?](https://nitez.com/melatonin)
- [Does alcohol help you sleep?](https://nitez.com/alcohol-and-sleep)
- [Are sleeping pills safe to take?](https://nitez.com/sleeping-pills)
- [How do I wind down when I’m tired but wired?](https://nitez.com/winding-down)
- [What can I do when worry keeps me awake?](https://nitez.com/worry-at-night)

## Sources

[^1]: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Chamomile. Last updated November 2024. [www.nccih.nih.gov](https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/chamomile)
[^2]: Winkler A, Rief W. Effect of Placebo Conditions on Polysomnographic Parameters in Primary Insomnia: A Meta-Analysis. Sleep. 2015;38(6):925–31. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25515108/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.4742) · [PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4434559/)
[^3]: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Valerian. Last updated May 2025. [www.nccih.nih.gov](https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/valerian)
[^4]: Tan CSS, Lee SWH. Warfarin and food, herbal or dietary supplement interactions: A systematic review. British journal of clinical pharmacology. 2021;87(2):352–374. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32478963/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.14404)
[^5]: Bent S, Padula A, Moore D, Patterson M, Mehling W. Valerian for sleep: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The American journal of medicine. 2006;119(12):1005–12. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17145239/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2006.02.026) · [PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4394901/)
[^6]: Yeung V, Sharpe L, Glozier N, Hackett ML, Colagiuri B. A systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo versus no treatment for insomnia symptoms. Sleep medicine reviews. 2018;38:17–27. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28554719/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2017.03.006)
[^7]: Sateia MJ, Buysse DJ, Krystal AD, Neubauer DN, Heald JL. Clinical Practice Guideline for the Pharmacologic Treatment of Chronic Insomnia in Adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline. Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. 2017;13(2):307–349. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27998379/) · [PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5263087/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.6470)
[^8]: Kasper S, Anghelescu I, Dienel A. Efficacy of orally administered Silexan in patients with anxiety-related restlessness and disturbed sleep--A randomized, placebo-controlled trial. European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. 2015;25(11):1960–7. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26293583/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2015.07.024)
[^9]: Valente V, Machado D, Jorge S, Drake CL, Marques DR. Does valerian work for insomnia? An umbrella review of the evidence. European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. 2024;82:6–28. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38359657/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2024.01.008)
[^10]: Leach MJ, Page AT. Herbal medicine for insomnia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep medicine reviews. 2015;24:1–12. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25644982/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2014.12.003)
[^11]: Ell J, Schmid SR, Benz F, Spille L. Complementary and alternative treatments for insomnia disorder: a systematic umbrella review. Journal of sleep research. 2023;32(6):e13979. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37527850/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13979)
[^12]: Shinjyo N, Waddell G, Green J. Valerian Root in Treating Sleep Problems and Associated Disorders-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of evidence-based integrative medicine. 2020;25:2515690X20967323. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33086877/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1177/2515690X20967323) · [PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7585905/)
[^13]: Zick SM, Wright BD, Sen A, Arnedt JT. Preliminary examination of the efficacy and safety of a standardized chamomile extract for chronic primary insomnia: a randomized placebo-controlled pilot study. BMC complementary and alternative medicine. 2011;11:78. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21939549/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-11-78) · [PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3198755/)
[^14]: Kazemi A, Shojaei-Zarghani S, Eskandarzadeh P, Hashempur MH. Effects of chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) on sleep: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials. Complementary therapies in medicine. 2024;84:103071. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39106912/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2024.103071)
[^15]: Hieu TH, Dibas M, Surya Dila KA, Sherif NA, Hashmi MU, Mahmoud M, et al. Therapeutic efficacy and safety of chamomile for state anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, insomnia, and sleep quality: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials and quasi-randomized trials. Phytotherapy research : PTR. 2019;33(6):1604–1615. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31006899/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.6349)
[^16]: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Lavender. Last updated February 2025. [www.nccih.nih.gov](https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/lavender)
[^17]: Cheong MJ, Kim S, Kim JS, Lee H, Lyu YS, Lee YR, et al. A systematic literature review and meta-analysis of the clinical effects of aroma inhalation therapy on sleep problems. Medicine. 2021;100(9):e24652. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33655928/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000024652) · [PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7939222/)
[^18]: Seifritz E, Schläfke S, Holsboer-Trachsler E. Beneficial effects of Silexan on sleep are mediated by its anxiolytic effect. Journal of psychiatric research. 2019;115:69–74. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31121394/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.04.013)
[^19]: Mah J, Pitre T. Oral magnesium supplementation for insomnia in older adults: a Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis. BMC complementary medicine and therapies. 2021;21(1):125. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33865376/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-021-03297-z) · [PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8053283/)
[^20]: NHS. Vitamins and minerals: Others (magnesium). [www.nhs.uk](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/others/)
[^21]: Lewis JL III. Hypermagnesemia (High Level of Magnesium in the Blood). MSD Manual Consumer Version. Full review June 2025, last updated July 2025. [www.msdmanuals.com](https://www.msdmanuals.com/home/hormonal-and-metabolic-disorders/electrolyte-balance/hypermagnesemia-high-level-of-magnesium-in-the-blood)
[^22]: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Melatonin: What You Need To Know. Last updated May 2024. [www.nccih.nih.gov](https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/melatonin-what-you-need-to-know)
[^23]: US Food and Drug Administration. Questions and Answers on Dietary Supplements. [www.fda.gov](https://www.fda.gov/food/information-consumers-using-dietary-supplements/questions-and-answers-dietary-supplements)
[^24]: Tucker J, Fischer T, Upjohn L, Mazzera D, Kumar M. Unapproved Pharmaceutical Ingredients Included in Dietary Supplements Associated With US Food and Drug Administration Warnings. JAMA network open. 2018;1(6):e183337. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30646238/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.3337) · [PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6324457/)
[^25]: Qaseem A, Kansagara D, Forciea MA, Cooke M, Denberg TD; Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians. Management of chronic insomnia disorder in adults: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2016;165(2):125–133. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27136449/) · [DOI](https://doi.org/10.7326/M15-2175)

---
https://nitez.com/herbal-remedies · Remedies and substances · updated 2026-09-09