My Experience with Valerian
After my experience with kava herb as I mentioned in a previous post, I was a little skeptical of all these sleeping herbs, and whether they work or not. So, I didn’t bother taking sleeping herbs for a long time – around 5 years.
During that period, I’ve underwent various phases of insomnia that were only relieved by the occasional sleep medication. However, I’m not in favor of using sleep medications and I won’t recommend that to anyone unless you have (really) severe insomnia. Today, I want to talk about valerian.
Valerian is a herb like kava. But in my opinion, valerian is much better than kava in terms of performance and efficacy. It’s not as good as a pure sleeping pill of course, but if you want a natural solution to insomnia, you really should try valerian.
It seems to be the best of the sleeping herbs that I’ve tried before, and I’ve tried oatstraw, hops, and kava to date. I’ll probably try out St John’s wort one of these days. But valerian, in my experience, has the best “sleep effect” to date. With melatonin, it works even better.
Take valerian and melatonin just before sleeping, and see if it puts you to sleep. It doesn’t work all the time though, I must add, but it works about 80-90% of the time. Meaning out of 10 nights, it works 8 or 9 nights out of the 10. That’s good enough for me, right now.
Of course, with chronic or on-off insomnia, don’t expect valerian to be a miracle worker. I have to digress with some sites or books that claim valerian is an effective sleep promoter. It is ok, but just that – ok. As a natural (not pharmaceutical med) herb, valerian works well enough to replace sleeping pills when you’re not undergoing a serious phase of insomnia.
Valerian is said to decrease the number of nighttime awakenings and improve sleep quality. From my experience, it seems to have these qualities, as I find I can sleep one whole stretch for 7-8 hours now. But that is provided I sleep late, like 3 AM. If I sleep earlier, I find valerian does not MAKE me fall asleep so readily. So, it looks like I have to slowly adjust my circadian rhythm, because I have been sleeping at 2-3 AM all this while. Well, basically I’m a night owl.
If you want to know the dosage I’m taking, it is 2 capsules each time, at 110 mg standardized valerian extract (Radix Valeriana Officinalis) per capsule, and I often take it with 3 mg of melatonin. After more than 4 months of taking valerian, I feel certain enough to write this valerian review, but I’ll certainly post more of my findings in future, (including some facts and info about valerian).
And sometimes, changing brands makes a difference.
Hi,
I have had virtually the same experience with Valerian as you. It is okay—as you said—-in terms of effectiveness, which makes it far and away a better supplement than most herbal or alimentary treatments. I think it is better than melatonin in calming the nervous system, therefore more effective, and it has been used by humans for a very long time without acquiring a bad reputation.
I have not endured insomnia as long as most insomniacs and my sleeping probems tend to occur sporadically. Is there a way to prevent them through lifestyle–yes—but it can hard to get to that point. For example, I run quite a bit during certain times of the year, which will help me sleep certain nights, but on days where I do not run, I will be more likely to have insomnia as a result. Valerian is good as an ”on the spot” treatment. When my nerves are too excited to produce sleep, Valerian can sometimes make the difference. I sometimes think I can calm myself down as effectively as Valerian does fairly quickly, but in fact it may take hours of waiting to reach that point when the nerves go into rest mode. Valerian, taken in small doses, also does it gently, not by making you dizzy or lightheaded. I think most bottles will recommend taking it prior to going to bed, but I think in the middle of the night as needed is the better recommendation. That way you also reduce the frequency of taking the drug/herb. Excellent page.
@ BenH
Thank you for sharing your experience
Among all the sleep herbs I’ve tried, my vote goes to valerian too!
I agree, that is what I enjoyed this blog comment. Some people would disagree but you really need to think about the issue.
Have you tried magnolia root? I was wondering how that stacked up against it too.
@ KB,
No I haven’t tried magnolia root. So far, I think valerian is the best of the lot, but user mileage may vary.
Thanks for your blog. It was very interesting. Where can I find melatonin or valerian? What stores carry them? It is nearly 1:30 AM and I am just getting tired. This is no biggie tonight as I can sleep in tomorrow. When this happens during the week it is not so great. During the week I am up at 4:45 AM to make lunches at 5:15 AM I am waking the kids and getting them moving. At 6:15 AM we have begun our 30 minute drive to the bus. From there I come back home and go directly to my office to begin my day finding loads for my husband as he is an over the road trucker. Some days all goes well and I can nap, but most days I am going until the kids get in bed at 7:30 PM. By then I am past tired and have trouble relaxing. Any suggestions would be wonderful.
Hi Kim,
If you are living in the US, melatonin or valerian should be available in most pharmacies or health food stores there. If you just want a herb to relax you, you may want to try the herb St John’s Wort, which has a mild sedative effect. A suggestion: If you afford it, get a small mp3 player, and play some relaxing Solfeggio frequencies softly, while wearing a sleep mask. I’ve tried this with good success.