Supplement Note — Botanicals

The Herbal Shelf: What the Evidence Actually Backs

Tea, tinctures, and capsules line the sleep aisle. Three plants have real trials behind them — and one popular root carries a warning worth reading before you buy.

Last week we looked at minerals and amino acids. Today it’s the botanicals: the herbs people have brewed for sleep for centuries. The honest picture is that a few have genuine trial support, most effects are modest, and quality control is the real wild card. Here are the three with the strongest evidence, plus a safety note that matters more than any benefit.

KEY TAKEAWAY

Of the herbal sleep aids, ashwagandha has the most consistent recent trial data — but the same herb has a small, real record of liver injury. Benefit and caution live side by side.

BOTANICAL 1

Ashwagandha: the strongest evidence

A meta-analysis of five trials in 400 adults found a small but real improvement in sleep, strongest at 600mg a day for at least 8 weeks in people with insomnia (Cheah et al., PLOS One, 2021). A separate 10-week trial found shorter time to fall asleep and better sleep quality (Langade et al., 2019). It works slowly, not overnight.

BOTANICAL 2

Valerian: popular, but inconsistent

The most-used sleep herb, and the most frustrating. A large review of 60 studies found the mixed results likely come from wildly variable extract quality, with the whole root performing more reliably (Shinjyo et al., 2020). No serious harms were reported across ages 7 to 80. Real, but only if the product is good.

BOTANICAL 3

Chamomile: gentle and low-risk

The mildest of the three. In 60 older adults, 200mg of chamomile extract twice daily for 4 weeks improved sleep measures versus placebo (Adib-Hajbaghery & Mousavi, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2017), and a postpartum tea trial showed short-term gains. Effects are modest, but the risk is very low.

SAFETY WARNING

Ashwagandha and your liver

The benefit comes with a caveat worth taking seriously. The NIH’s LiverTox database records about 23 reported cases of ashwagandha-linked liver injury, typically cholestatic hepatitis after roughly a month of use. Most people recovered after stopping, but at least one case led to a liver transplant. Skip it if you have liver issues, avoid alcohol with it, and stop at once if you notice jaundice, dark urine, or persistent nausea.

BUYER’S NOTE

Supplements aren’t tightly regulated, so the label and the bottle don’t always match. Look for a third-party seal such as USP or NSF, and treat any herb as a medicine: tell your doctor, especially if you’re pregnant, on other drugs, or managing a health condition.

→ QUICK POLL

Have you tried an herbal sleep aid?

YES, IT HELPED

NO EFFECT

Sleep well,

Claire Ashton

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