Does valerian really help you fall asleep faster?

Valerian is one of the best-selling sleep supplements, yet the evidence that it actually helps you fall asleep faster is remarkably thin. Two large review studies from 2023 and 2024 conclude that valerian does not measurably improve sleep-onset latency, sleep efficiency, or total sleep time in people with insomnia compared with placebo. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) explicitly advises against valerian as a treatment for insomnia, both for difficulty falling asleep and for difficulty staying asleep.

What some people do report is a subjectively better sleep experience. However, when that is measured in a controlled way using objective methods such as a sleep EEG or movement recording, the effect disappears. This is a pattern that was also visible in an early small study from 1985: at home, participants experienced lying awake for a somewhat shorter time, but in the sleep laboratory there was not a single statistically significant difference. That strongly suggests that the subjective feeling is partly driven by expectation.

A recent placebo-controlled study from 2024 tested a combination product containing valerian, L-theanine, lemon balm, and saffron over six weeks in adults with sleep problems. Not one sleep parameter improved significantly compared with placebo. On a few measures the placebo group even performed slightly better. Those are not the results you want to see for a product that is widely sold.

The only clearly positive message concerns safety. Valerian is not associated with serious side effects. That said, the quality of over-the-counter herbal preparations varies considerably, and there is hardly any data on long-term use. For older adults the safety profile is reasonable, but even in that group effectiveness remains unclear.