Herbal Help for a Better Night’s Sleep

Around one in three adults report having some degree of insomnia. A new study shows that putting these two powerful sleep herbs together can help.

Having trouble sleeping can be an annoying problem even if you don’t suffer from full blown, chronic insomnia. This double-blind study looked at a combination of two sleep herbs on 40 people who had sleep problems one or two weeks a night and who had poor sleep quality that fell short of the diagnostic criteria for actual insomnia.

The herbs were valerian and hops, and the dose was 500mg of valerian root extract and 120mg of hops extract. They took the herbs, or the placebo, an hour before bed for 21 days.

Compared to the placebo, the herbs significantly increased sleep duration. On average, they slept a full 21.7 minutes longer per night.

There were no serious adverse events, and the herbs were as safe as the placebo.

Brain Behav. June 4, 2025;15(6):e70600.