Valerian

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Valerian is a popular herb used as a sedative to promote sleep and as a calmative agent. The roots (or rhizomes) of the plant Valeriana officinalis are the parts used medicinally.

Unlike other popular herbs, such as St. John's wort and ginkgo that have dozens of supporting studies involving thousands of people, there has been only one very well designed study of valerian. Each of the 121 participants took either a placebo or 600 mg of valerian extract nightly for a month. After two weeks of use, Valerian did not provide any immediate benefit. However, after four weeks, significant improvements in sleep quality were reported as compared to those who were given a placebo.

While this study failed to find an immediate sedative effect, other lower quality studies of valerian did find immediate benefits. The reason for this discrepancy is unclear. Studies of products containing valerian combined with lemon balm or hops have yielded equivocal results.

Besides insomnia, valerian also has been advocated for reducing daytime anxiety. Two studies evaluated the use of valerian in stressful situations, but they were too small to produce meaningful results.

Because of valerian's calming effect, you should not take it at the same time as other calming medications or antidepressants (or do so only under medical supervision). You also should not take valerian if you will be driving or need to be alert.

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