Passionflower for Sleep: Tea, Extracts and Four Different Trials

Read the ingredients before using a passionflower sleep claim to judge a product. A cup of tea, a concentrated capsule and a blend containing several herbs may carry the same plant name while delivering different preparations.

The studies below tested Passiflora incarnata. They also asked different questions: how people rated their sleep, how much sleep an overnight recording measured, and whether insomnia symptoms improved. A positive answer to one question leaves the others unresolved.

The tea study improved one of six diary measures

In a double-blind crossover study published in 2011, 41 adults aged 18–35 drank passionflower tea for one week and placebo tea for another. Treatment order was counterbalanced, with a one-week washout between periods. Each person completed daily sleep diaries.¹

Of six diary measures analyzed, subjective sleep quality was significantly better during the passionflower week, with P below .01. Ten participants also underwent an overnight sleep recording at the end of each treatment period.¹

The authors framed the finding as a short-term benefit in healthy adults with mild fluctuations in sleep quality. This was not a trial establishing treatment for persistent insomnia. We verified the original abstract; it does not supply enough preparation detail to prescribe a matching supermarket tea or brewing recipe.¹

The extract study measured about 23 additional minutes

A two-week extract trial published in 2020 enrolled 110 adults with DSM-5 insomnia disorder. It compared extract with placebo using overnight polysomnography, a physiological sleep recording.²

Average total sleep time increased by 23.05 minutes in the extract group and decreased by 0.16 minutes with placebo. The difference met the study’s significance threshold, with P=.049. Variation was substantial: the standard deviations of the changes were approximately 54 and 53 minutes. Individual responses varied.²³

Sleep efficiency and wake time after falling asleep improved within the extract group, but did not outperform placebo. Reporting improvement alone would omit the treatment comparison.²

The current VA/DoD guideline adds details absent from the original abstract: the extract dose was 60 mg, and exclusions and dropouts left 85 participants in the analysis, below the planned 98 needed for statistical power. It rated this evidence very low in quality.³

We could not access the original full methods. Those dose and analysis details come from the guideline’s appraisal, and do not establish a matching retail formulation.

A newer pilot used 600 mg of a branded extract

A 2024 double-blind pilot at two Indian sites randomized 65 adults aged 18–60 to the SIVI extract or placebo. All completed 30 days. The active treatment was 600 mg at bedtime, prepared from the plant’s above-ground parts.⁴

Its total sleep time result came from participants’ diaries, without overnight physiological recording. Researchers reported longer sleep time and lower stress than with placebo. Mean Insomnia Severity Index scores fell from 16.25 to 10.63 with extract, and from 17.18 to 15.79 with placebo. Lower scores indicate fewer symptoms.⁴

There was no formal sample-size calculation. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, oral or systemic contraceptives and several chronic illnesses were exclusions. The manufacturer funded it and employed two authors. No adverse events were reported.⁴

These findings do not establish safety with contraceptives, long-term use or a different bottle. 600 mg and 60 mg are study labels for different preparations, not evidence that taking more works better.²³⁴

An eight-week tea comparison leaves additional questions

A 2025 report from Lahore studied 90 participants aged 25–45, divided between no intervention, chamomile powder tea and passionflower powder tea. The tea groups used 1 g of powder daily for eight weeks. The authors reported better sleep outcomes with chamomile than passionflower.⁵

That comparison has important limitations. The control received no intervention, so it did not control for drinking a bedtime tea. The paper calls the study randomized, but its methods also describe dividing participants based on a sleep-quality scale, without explaining a reproducible random-allocation procedure. We could not verify blinding from the report.⁵

It therefore adds limited evidence about tea. Its findings do not justify declaring chamomile a dependable insomnia treatment or substituting either tea for clinical care.⁵

Current guidance does not endorse it for chronic insomnia

Recommendation 14 in the 2025 US VA/DoD guideline suggests against passionflower for chronic insomnia. This is a weak recommendation against use, reflecting very low confidence in the evidence, possible harms and concern that supplements can delay appropriate treatment.³

Its passionflower discussion appraises the two-week extract trial; it does not discuss the newer pilot or Lahore tea comparison. The article includes those reports so readers can see what they add and their limitations. Small positive studies have not established consistent benefit across preparations and sleep outcomes.

Pregnancy, medicines and next-day effects need attention

NCCIH’s⁶ current safety summary lists drowsiness, dizziness and confusion as possible effects. It says passionflower may be safe as tea for up to seven nights, or daily extract for up to eight weeks. Those statements do not establish indefinite nightly safety.⁶

Do not use passionflower during pregnancy: NCCIH⁶ warns that it may induce uterine contractions. Breastfeeding safety is insufficiently known. Discuss it with your healthcare provider before use if you take medicines.⁶

Passionflower can compound the slowing of the nervous system from anesthesia and medicines used around surgery. Tell your care team if you have taken it within two weeks of scheduled surgery.⁶

Bring the ingredient list, dose, dates used and any next-day symptoms to a sleep appointment. Describe the problem you need treated: taking a long time to fall asleep, repeated waking, or difficulty functioning the next day. A favorable sleep-quality rating alone may not address your main symptom.

Chapter 10, “In Bed All Night, Tired All Day,” in Did I Do That in My Sleep? explains insomnia assessment and questions about access to structured cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I. Those questions remain useful whether you have tried a tea, a capsule or neither.