Best Tea for Sleep: 8 Bedtime Teas, Ranked by What the Trials Actually Found
The best teas for sleep are chamomile, valerian and passionflower, because each has at least one placebo-controlled human trial showing better subjective sleep, and passionflower has one with polysomnography. None of them is a sleeping pill. In the trials, the gains were modest: falling asleep 10 to 20 minutes faster, fewer night wakings, a better score on a sleep questionnaire. That is still worth having, and tea delivers it with almost no side effects, at a cost of pennies a night.
Part of the effect is the ritual itself. A warm, caffeine-free drink 45 minutes before bed, in dim light, away from a screen, is a cue your nervous system learns. The herbs add a little pharmacology on top: apigenin in chamomile and the valerenic acids in valerian both act on GABA-A receptors, the same system that benzodiazepines use, at a far gentler dose.
See a clinician rather than a teapot if you have trouble sleeping three or more nights a week for over three months, if you snore loudly or wake gasping (possible sleep apnea), if your legs crawl at night, or if poor sleep comes with low mood, panic or thoughts of self-harm. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) beats every tea on this page and most sleeping pills over the long term.
Quick answer
- Chamomile — the best-studied bedtime tea; improved sleep quality in a 2019 meta-analysis, gently sedative through apigenin
- Valerian — the strongest traditional sedative herb; roughly 80% higher odds of reporting better sleep in pooled trials, though results vary by product
- Passionflower — one cup nightly improved subjective sleep in a week-long crossover trial; extract increased total sleep time on polysomnography
- Lemon balm — calming, eases the racing-mind kind of insomnia; mostly studied in combination with valerian
- Low-caffeine green tea — the theanine in it shortened time to fall asleep in a four-week trial, as long as the caffeine is removed
- Rooibos — no sleep trials, but naturally caffeine-free, so it is a safe evening swap for black tea
The 8 best teas for sleep
Ranked by the strength of human evidence. Strong = multiple trials or a meta-analysis. Moderate = a few small trials. Preliminary = early, traditional or animal data.
A 2019 meta-analysis of 12 randomised trials found chamomile significantly improved sleep quality scores, though not formal insomnia severity. In 80 postnatal women with poor sleep, one cup of chamomile tea a day for two weeks lowered sleep-inefficiency and depression scores versus controls, with the benefit fading two weeks after they stopped. A 28-day trial of 270 mg chamomile extract twice daily in chronic insomnia saw people fall asleep about 16 minutes faster and wake less often at night, a modest change that did not reach statistical significance in 34 patients. The active flavonoid, apigenin, binds the benzodiazepine site on GABA-A receptors.
- Key evidence
- Hieu et al., Phytotherapy Research 2019 (meta-analysis of 12 RCTs); Chang & Chen, Journal of Advanced Nursing 2016 (tea RCT, n=80).
- How to brew it
- 2 to 3 g whole dried flowers (a heaped tablespoon, or two bags), 200 ml water just off the boil, covered, 10 minutes; drink 30 to 45 minutes before bed.
- Best for
- Anyone starting out; the gentlest, safest first choice, including for older adults.
- Cautions
- Contains coumarins and has a case report of interaction with warfarin, so ask your clinician if you take blood thinners. Avoid if you are allergic to ragweed, daisies or chrysanthemums. Generally regarded as safe in pregnancy in food amounts, but data on daily medicinal use are thin.
A 2006 meta-analysis of 16 randomised trials (1,093 people) found valerian raised the odds of reporting improved sleep quality by about 80% versus placebo, but the trials were small and uneven. A 2010 meta-analysis agreed people feel they sleep better while objective measures (sleep latency, efficiency on polysomnography) barely move. A 2020 review of 60 studies blamed the inconsistency largely on variable product quality. Trials used 300 to 600 mg of extract or 2 to 3 g of dried root; the effect builds over two to four weeks rather than on night one.
- Key evidence
- Bent et al., American Journal of Medicine 2006 (meta-analysis of 16 RCTs); Shinjyo et al., Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine 2020.
- How to brew it
- 2 to 3 g dried root (about a teaspoon), 200 ml water at 90 to 95°C, covered, 10 to 15 minutes, 30 to 60 minutes before bed. It smells like old socks; blend with lemon balm or add honey.
- Best for
- People who need more than chamomile and can commit to nightly use for a few weeks.
- Cautions
- Adds to the effect of alcohol, benzodiazepines, zolpidem, opioids and sedating antihistamines; do not combine. Can cause morning grogginess, vivid dreams and, rarely, paradoxical restlessness. Not studied in pregnancy or breastfeeding, so avoid. Stop a week before surgery because of anaesthetic interactions.
In a double-blind crossover trial, 41 healthy adults drank a cup of passionflower tea (2 g in 250 ml) nightly for a week and rated their sleep quality significantly better than during a week of parsley-tea placebo, a small but real effect. A 2020 trial in 110 adults with insomnia disorder found two weeks of passionflower extract increased total sleep time and reduced time awake after sleep onset on polysomnography versus placebo. It is one of the few sleep herbs with both a tea-specific trial and an objective sleep-lab result.
- Key evidence
- Ngan & Conduit, Phytotherapy Research 2011 (tea crossover RCT); Lee et al., International Clinical Psychopharmacology 2020 (polysomnography RCT, n=110).
- How to brew it
- 2 g dried aerial herb (a heaped teaspoon), 200 to 250 ml just-boiled water, covered, 10 minutes; one cup about an hour before bed.
- Best for
- Sleep that is broken by anxiety or a busy mind; also useful for people who dislike valerian's smell.
- Cautions
- Mildly sedating, so do not stack with sedatives, alcohol or large doses of other sleep herbs. Avoid in pregnancy (traditionally considered uterine-stimulating) and stop before surgery. May lower blood pressure slightly; be careful if you are already on antihypertensives.
Lemon balm's sleep evidence is mostly in combination or open-label form. In an open trial of 20 adults with mild anxiety and sleep problems, 600 mg a day of a standardised leaf extract for 15 days reduced insomnia scores by 42%. Combined valerian-lemon balm tablets improved sleep in menopausal women in a double-blind trial and in children with restlessness in an open study. In 80 people with stable angina, 3 g of lemon balm a day for eight weeks improved sleep, anxiety and depression scores versus placebo. Rosmarinic acid, which inhibits GABA breakdown, is the likely active.
- Key evidence
- Cases et al., Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism 2011 (open-label, n=20); Haybar et al., Clinical Nutrition ESPEN 2018 (RCT, n=80).
- How to brew it
- 1.5 to 4.5 g (1 to 3 teaspoons) fresh or dried leaf, 200 ml water at about 90°C, covered, 10 minutes. Covering matters: the calming volatile oils evaporate otherwise.
- Best for
- Light sleepers who lie awake thinking; pairs well with chamomile or valerian.
- Cautions
- May interfere with thyroid hormone signalling in laboratory studies, so people on levothyroxine or with thyroid disease should keep intake moderate and mention it to their clinician. Additive with sedatives. Fine in culinary amounts in pregnancy; daily high doses are untested.
The strong lavender evidence is for inhaled oil and for Silexan, an oral lavender-oil capsule that improved sleep and restlessness in a 10-week placebo-controlled trial of 170 adults with anxiety-related sleep disturbance. The tea has one trial of its own: 80 postnatal women with poor sleep who drank a cup of lavender tea daily for two weeks reported less fatigue and depression and better bonding with their baby than controls, though sleep itself was not measured directly. Expect a mild calming effect rather than sedation.
- Key evidence
- Chen & Chen, Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing 2015 (tea RCT, n=80); Kasper et al., European Neuropsychopharmacology 2015 (Silexan RCT).
- How to brew it
- 1 to 2 teaspoons (about 1.5 g) dried culinary lavender buds, 200 ml water at 90°C, 5 minutes, then strain; steep longer and it tastes like soap.
- Best for
- People who find the scent calming; blend a small amount into chamomile rather than drinking it straight.
- Cautions
- Can add to sedatives. Oral lavender oil has been linked to breast growth in boys in case reports, so keep children to occasional cups. Culinary lavender in tea is considered low-risk in pregnancy, but concentrated oil is not.
Green tea's amino acid L-theanine, at 200 mg a day for four weeks, improved sleep latency, sleep disturbance and use of sleep medication on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in a placebo-controlled trial of 30 healthy adults. In older adults, a week of green tea with the caffeine lowered improved sleep quality and reduced salivary stress markers, while regular green tea did not. The catch is the caffeine: a normal cup has 20 to 45 mg, enough to undo the benefit, and only 10 to 25 mg of theanine. Decaffeinated or cold-brewed green tea tips the balance.
- Key evidence
- Hidese et al., Nutrients 2019 (theanine RCT, n=30); Unno et al., Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition 2017 (low-caffeine green tea).
- How to brew it
- Decaf or labelled low-caffeine green tea, 2 g per 200 ml at 70°C for 2 minutes; or cold-brew ordinary sencha (2 g per 200 ml, 4 hours in the fridge), which extracts theanine but far less caffeine.
- Best for
- Green-tea lovers who want an evening cup without lying awake; not a sedative.
- Cautions
- Even decaf carries 2 to 5 mg of caffeine per cup; if you are caffeine-sensitive, finish it by early evening. Green tea reduces iron absorption from a meal and can irritate reflux. Check with your clinician if you take nadolol or warfarin, both of which green tea can affect.
Hops are mostly studied alongside valerian. A four-week double-blind trial of a fixed valerian-hops extract (500 mg plus 120 mg) in 30 adults with non-organic sleep disorder shortened sleep latency on polysomnography versus placebo. Non-alcoholic beer, whose sedative component is hops, cut time to fall asleep and improved sleep quality in a two-week study of 17 night-shift nurses. The bitter acids in hops appear to act on melatonin and adenosine signalling. On its own as tea, the evidence is traditional plus these combination trials.
- Key evidence
- Koetter et al., Phytotherapy Research 2007 (valerian-hops RCT with polysomnography); Franco et al., PLoS One 2012.
- How to brew it
- 1 to 2 g dried hop cones (strobiles), 200 ml water at 90°C, covered, 10 minutes. Very bitter; blend with lemon balm or chamomile and add honey.
- Best for
- People who already respond to valerian and want a stronger blend.
- Cautions
- Hops contain 8-prenylnaringenin, one of the most potent plant oestrogens known; avoid regular use if you have oestrogen-sensitive conditions (breast or endometrial cancer, endometriosis) or are pregnant. Additive with sedatives and alcohol. Can worsen depression in some people according to traditional sources.
Rooibos has no sleep trials, and this page will not pretend it does. Its evidence is simpler: it is naturally caffeine-free and low in tannins, so it does not interfere with sleep or iron the way black tea does, and it tastes close enough to black tea that people who want a familiar evening cup stick with it. Small human studies show it is safe at six cups a day for six weeks, with a modest improvement in blood lipids. Treat it as the base for a bedtime blend, not the active ingredient.
- Key evidence
- Marnewick et al., Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2011 (six-week safety and lipid study in 40 adults).
- How to brew it
- 1 heaped teaspoon (2 to 3 g) per 250 ml boiling water, 5 to 10 minutes; it never turns bitter, so a long steep is fine. Add chamomile or lemon balm for the active herbs.
- Best for
- Replacing an evening black tea or coffee habit; safe for children and in pregnancy.
- Cautions
- Very safe. Rare case reports of liver enzyme rises with heavy use. Can modestly affect iron absorption if drunk with meals, far less than black tea. No meaningful drug interactions are documented.
How to choose
- Trouble falling asleep: start with chamomile or passionflower 45 minutes before bed, nightly for two weeks, before judging.
- Waking at 3 a.m. with a busy mind: lemon balm plus chamomile, and look hard at alcohol and late caffeine, which cause exactly this pattern.
- You need something stronger and can commit to nightly use: valerian, ideally with hops or lemon balm, for three to four weeks.
- You love green or black tea in the evening: switch to decaf green (theanine) or rooibos; the caffeine is the problem, not the tea.
- Pregnant or breastfeeding: chamomile or rooibos in moderation; skip valerian, passionflower, hops and lavender oil.
- On sedatives, sleeping pills or alcohol most nights: chamomile or rooibos only, and talk to your prescriber; stacking sedatives is the real risk.
What to skip
Blue lotus tea
Sold as a dreamy sleep aid, it contains apomorphine and nuciferine, which are psychoactive, and has no human sleep trials. Several countries restrict it. Not worth the unknowns.
Mugwort tea for sleep or dreams
Traditional, but there are no controlled trials for sleep, it is a known allergen (cross-reacts with ragweed and celery), and it is contraindicated in pregnancy.
Decaf black tea as a 'caffeine-free' nightcap
Decaffeination removes most but not all caffeine; a cup still has 2 to 15 mg. Fine for most people, but if you are the sensitive type, rooibos is truly zero.
Kava for sleep
Kava is sedating, but its trials are for anxiety, not insomnia, and it carries a liver-injury warning. There are safer teas for sleep.
Safety and when to see a clinician
- Do not combine valerian, passionflower, hops or lavender with prescription sleeping pills, benzodiazepines, opioids, sedating antihistamines or alcohol; the effects add up and the combination is what sends people to A&E, not the tea alone.
- Chamomile has a case report of raising INR on warfarin; green tea can lower it. If you take anticoagulants, keep intake steady and tell your clinician.
- Pregnancy: chamomile and rooibos in normal amounts are considered low-risk; valerian, passionflower, hops, mugwort and medicinal lavender are not studied or are traditionally avoided.
- Drink your tea 45 to 90 minutes before bed, not at bedtime, or the benefit is undone by a 3 a.m. trip to the bathroom.
- Sleep herbs are for short, bad patches. If you have needed one nightly for more than a month, the underlying cause (stress, pain, apnea, depression, caffeine, alcohol) needs attention, not a stronger herb.
- See a clinician if insomnia lasts more than three months, you snore loudly or stop breathing in sleep, you fall asleep during the day, your legs are restless at night, or sleep loss comes with low mood or thoughts of self-harm.
What matters as much as the tea
- A fixed wake time, every day including weekends, does more for insomnia than any herb; it anchors your body clock.
- Ten minutes of outdoor light within an hour of waking sets melatonin timing for that night.
- Stop caffeine by early afternoon: 400 mg taken six hours before bed cut objective sleep by more than an hour in a controlled study.
- Alcohol gets you to sleep and then wakes you at 3 a.m.; cutting it is the single most effective fix for broken sleep in the second half of the night.
- CBT-I (free apps and NHS or insurer-funded programmes exist) is the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia and outperforms sleeping pills at one year.
Frequently asked questions
What tea helps you sleep the fastest?
Passionflower and valerian have the best evidence for shortening time to fall asleep: passionflower extract reduced sleep latency and night waking on polysomnography, and valerian-hops did the same in a four-week trial. Chamomile shaved about 16 minutes off sleep latency in a small study. Drink it 45 to 60 minutes before bed so the warm drink and the herbs have time to work.
Is chamomile or valerian better for sleep?
Chamomile has the better safety profile and a meta-analysis showing improved sleep quality; valerian has more trials and a somewhat stronger sedative effect but more variable products and more side effects (grogginess, vivid dreams). Start with chamomile; move to valerian if two weeks of chamomile is not enough.
How long before bed should I drink sleep tea?
45 to 90 minutes. That gives the herbs time to absorb, lets your core temperature drop after the warm drink (the drop itself signals sleep), and leaves time to empty your bladder before lights out.
Does decaf tea keep you awake?
Decaf black or green tea still contains roughly 2 to 15 mg of caffeine per cup, compared with 40 to 70 mg in regular black tea. Most people will not notice it, but if you are caffeine-sensitive or drink several cups, choose a truly caffeine-free herbal tea such as rooibos or chamomile after mid-afternoon.
Can I drink sleep tea every night?
Chamomile, lemon balm and rooibos are fine nightly for months. Valerian and passionflower have been used nightly for four to six weeks in trials without dependence; beyond that, take a break and reassess why you still need it. Hops should not be an every-night habit for people with oestrogen-sensitive conditions.
Which bedtime tea is safe during pregnancy?
Chamomile and rooibos in one to two cups a day are generally considered acceptable, though chamomile has not been studied in daily medicinal doses in pregnancy. Avoid valerian, passionflower, hops, mugwort and lavender oil. If sleep is badly broken in pregnancy, ask your midwife; iron deficiency and restless legs are common, treatable causes.
Does honey in bedtime tea help sleep?
A teaspoon of honey will not sedate you, but it improves the taste of valerian and hops enough that people actually keep drinking them, which is what matters. In children over one year, honey does have trial evidence for easing night-time cough, which is a different reason to add it.
References
- Hieu TH, Dibas M, Surya Dila KA, et al.. Therapeutic efficacy and safety of chamomile for state anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, insomnia and sleep quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and randomized trials. Phytotherapy Research (2019)
- Chang SM, Chen CH. Effects of an intervention with drinking chamomile tea on sleep quality and depression in sleep disturbed postnatal women: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Advanced Nursing (2016)
- Bent S, Padula A, Moore D, Patterson M, Mehling W. Valerian for sleep: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Medicine (2006)
- Shinjyo N, Waddell G, Green J. Valerian root in treating sleep problems and associated disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine (2020)
- Ngan A, Conduit R. A double-blind, placebo-controlled investigation of the effects of Passiflora incarnata (passionflower) herbal tea on subjective sleep quality. Phytotherapy Research (2011)
- Lee J, Jung HY, Lee SI, Choi JH, Kim SG. Effects of Passiflora incarnata Linnaeus on polysomnographic sleep parameters in subjects with insomnia disorder: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study. International Clinical Psychopharmacology (2020)
- Hidese S, Ogawa S, Ota M, et al.. Effects of L-theanine administration on stress-related symptoms and cognitive functions in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial. Nutrients (2019)
- Unno K, Noda S, Kawasaki Y, et al.. Ingestion of green tea with lowered caffeine improves sleep quality of the elderly via suppression of stress. Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition (2017)
- Koetter U, Schrader E, Käufeler R, Brattström A. A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, prospective clinical study to demonstrate clinical efficacy of a fixed valerian hops extract combination (Ze 91019) in patients suffering from non-organic sleep disorder. Phytotherapy Research (2007)
- Chen SL, Chen CH. Effects of lavender tea on fatigue, depression, and maternal-infant attachment in sleep-disturbed postnatal women. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing (2015)
- Drake C, Roehrs T, Shambroom J, Roth T. Caffeine effects on sleep taken 0, 3, or 6 hours before going to bed. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (2013)
- Chamomile. National Center for Complementary and Integrative HealthView source
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Ask about tea for sleepThis guide is educational and is not medical advice. Herbal teas can interact with prescription medicines. Talk with a clinician or pharmacist before relying on any of them, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, have a chronic condition, or take medication.