Credit: Healthline
Nothing like a hot cuppa before bed.
Sometimes it is nearly impossible to get your brain to settle down at night for a good night’s sleep. But sometimes there are things we can do to help the process along. One strategy is chamomile tea.
However, the jury still seems to be out on the effects of chamomile. One study in 2011 had people who suffered from insomnia participate in a group test. Some of the patients were given a placebo pill while others were given a chamomile pill. At the end of the 28-day study, there didn’t seem to be any groundbreaking results.
A 2016 study of new mothers volunteered to drink chamomile tea every day for two weeks. They reported sleeping much better and reported fewer symptoms of depression than mothers who didn’t drink the tea. In 2017, another study was completed, this time dealing with elderly patients. The patients who took a large dose of chamomile slept much better than those that did not.
So what gives? The brain is a powerful instrument and sometimes tricking your brain to think something can work. If you believe that something is helping you to fall asleep, your brain will go along with your thinking. Between large amounts of stress at home and work, your brain needs time to settle down at night, so making it believe that you took something to help it settle down might just work.
Chamomile tea, from a scientific standpoint, has not shown any clear evidence that it helps people fall asleep. But it is a safe drink to have before bed, so it is something that people can continue to do.
