Lemon Verbena for Sleep: What Extract and Syrup Trials Found

The lemon-verbena sleep trials below tested a prepared syrup and purified leaf extracts. A product name alone cannot establish that another preparation contains the same ingredients in the same amounts.¹²³

The syrup trial used sleep questionnaires

The 2019 trial¹ randomized 100 people with insomnia to 10 mL lemon-verbena syrup or placebo nightly for four weeks. Its published abstract reports better Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Insomnia Severity Index scores with the syrup, including improvement in self-reported sleep latency and daytime dysfunction.¹

Those were questionnaire outcomes. The abstract does not provide a between-group difference in minutes slept or establish what happens after stopping. A syrup trial also cannot supply a capsule dose.¹

The smaller extract trial needs careful reading

A 2022 trial² assigned 40 adults with stress and poor sleep to 400 mg extract or placebo daily for two months, followed by a month off treatment. It used questionnaires and Fitbit Charge 2 estimates.²

Its often-cited deep-sleep improvement was significant against the extract group’s own baseline. The deep-sleep comparison with placebo was not marked significant; the REM proportion was. Improvement from baseline and an advantage over placebo answer different questions.²

Monteloeder supplied the extract and helped design the protocol, and three authors had company affiliations. The paper declared no external funding. Its consumer-tracker estimates do not provide a laboratory sleep-stage recording.²

The 90-day trial found better ratings, without longer measured sleep

The 2024 trial³ randomized 80 adults; 71 completed it. Participants used 400 mg extract standardized to at least 24% verbascoside or placebo for 90 days.³

Final sleep-quality ratings on a 0-to-10 scale averaged 6.5 versus 5.5, favoring extract. Actigraphy also favored extract for sleep efficiency and time awake after falling asleep. Total sleep time did not differ significantly between groups.³

Seven extract users and two placebo users were lost to follow-up. Their outcomes were excluded from the final analysis. Monteloeder funded this study, and three authors disclosed employment with the company.³

What the European tea monograph supports

The EMA’s 2021 monograph concerns lemon-verbena leaf prepared as tea. Its sleep indication rests on long-standing traditional use. It predates the two extract studies above and does not certify that a supermarket tea reproduces their findings.⁴

The monograph advises consulting a clinician if symptoms persist beyond two weeks or worsen. It does not recommend use during pregnancy or breastfeeding, because safety is unestablished, and warns that driving ability may be impaired.⁴

Bring the full product label to a pharmacist or clinician, including the plant name, extract amount and other ingredients. Explain whether your main difficulty is falling asleep, staying asleep or functioning the next day. Ask which of those problems the proposed product is expected to change and when to reassess it.

“Read the Research Without Becoming the Researcher” in Chapter 4 of Did I Do That in My Sleep? explains how to distinguish trial findings, guidelines and patient information when judging a sleep claim.