Valerian Side Effects: Is It Really A Good Cure?

For most people who do not know what Valerian is, Valerian is an extract of the Valerian root (Valeriana officinalis) and is widely prescribed in Europe for the treatment of insomnia. Valerian is available as a supplement in the US. However there are what is rumored to be Valerian side effects, a set of harmful effects that tend to momentarily incapacitate people who were medicated with Valerian.

In an early study, 166 volunteers were given a Valerian containing commercial product, or placebo. After three doses, Valerian was associated with a significant decrease in the time it takes to fall asleep and improvement in sleep quality. Sleep was better in the pure Valerian extract than in the proprietary product Hova®, which contains Valerian extract. This study did not measure, however, how well the blending worked, which is important because Valerian has a strong and distinctive smell. Valerian side effects were still not present.

However an uncontrolled study of 54 subjects revealed the early sign of Valerian side effects. A reduction in heart rate, blood pressure, and subjective distress to a stressful task were observed in the patients after receiving Valerian. This study suggests that valerian may have sedative properties. Another study of 16 patients with sleep disorders randomly assigned patients to two doses of Valerian or a placebo nightly and measured EEG measures of sleep as well as subjective reporting of sleep quality while patients were sleeping in a sleep laboratory.

Valerian side effects include vivid dreams in as many as 16% of cases, and less commonly drowsiness, depression, dizziness, headaches or blurred vision. When the patients were given a single dose of Valerian, the lower does had no effects on subjective or EEG measures of sleep. Because of inconsistent results and no clear mechanism by which Valerian could treat insomnia without significant side effects I think that large, properly controlled trials are needed to determine if Valerian is useful for insomnia. However in the mean time since Valerian does not have major side effects I wouldn’t necessarily discourage you from using it.

However a word of caution: since it is not proven effective I wouldn’t encourage anybody to take it as a valid cure too. Utmost care should be done, and the best thing to do is to consult your doctor.

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