

The conclusion? “The consumption of a low dose of, in the form of tea, yields short-term subjective sleep benefits for healthy adults with mild fluctuations in sleep quality.”


In addition to appearing to have the most anecdotal support on the Internet, a 2011 study reported that of “six sleep-diary measures analysed, sleep quality showed a significantly better rating for passionflower compared with placebo” in the 41 subjects followed. That said, the most convincing data exist for passionflower. Given the inherent subjective weakness of self-reports, this basically means that the results should be treated with a dash of skepticism. The evidence for valerian root is somewhat better-for example, a 2010 European meta-analysis of 18 previous studies allowed that “valerian would be effective for a subjective improvement of insomnia, although its effectiveness has not been demonstrated with quantitative or objective measurements.” This raises an important caveat to all this research: Every study I looked at was based on sleep diaries, meaning that subjects were responsible for reporting their own assessments of their sleep. A small 2011 study did suggest possible “modest benefits of daytime functioning,” but found no difference in sleep quality between subjects given chamomile extract and those on a placebo. So just how active are those ingredients? Despite its reputation for making the most soothing cup, chamomile has not yet been scientifically shown to have a significant impact on various sleep quality measures.
