Does chamomile tea help you sleep?

A little, on a questionnaire, and mostly when it came as a capsule. A 2024 meta-analysis pooled five studies and found chamomile lowered the 21-point Pittsburgh sleep quality score by 1.88 points, with an interval from 0.31 to 3.46 and studies that disagreed sharply. Most of the trials used capsule extracts. The only trial of the tea itself, in 80 new mothers, had no placebo drink and its effect was gone by the four-week test. In 34 adults with chronic insomnia, extract capsules did not improve sleep diary measures.

Unsettled. The answer is soft for three reasons. The trials are small. They measured sleep by asking people how they slept, and none of them recorded sleep with a device. And almost all of them gave capsules of extract, so a cup of tea in the evening is a different and weaker thing than what was tested.

Drop on the 21-point Pittsburgh sleep quality index, against control

Lower is better on this questionnaire. The interval runs from barely above zero to about 3.5 points, and the five studies disagreed with each other a great deal (I² 88%). Source: card ev-chsl-01 below.

What the trials found

Two meta-analyses point the same way. The 2024 review found the 1.88-point drop on the Pittsburgh index, with I² at 88 percent, which means the studies behind the average gave very different answers. A 2019 review found chamomile improved sleep quality with a standardized mean difference of 0.73, interval 0.23 to 1.23. That review also took in quasi-randomized trials, and its sleep estimate rests on a few small studies.

Trial	Who	What they took	Result
Randomized, no placebo, 2016	80 postnatal women with poor sleep, Taiwan	Chamomile tea for 2 weeks, against usual care. Cups a day not in the abstract	Better sleep scores at 2 weeks, the same as the control group at the 4-week test
Double-blind pilot, 2011	34 adults with chronic insomnia	270 mg chamomile extract twice a day or placebo, 28 days	No difference in total sleep, time to fall asleep, waking or sleep quality
Single-blind, 2017	60 people aged 60 and over, nursing home, Iran	200 mg chamomile extract capsules twice a day or wheat flour, 28 days	Sleep quality better than placebo. Size of the effect not in the abstract

Sources: cards ev-chsl-04, 05 and 06 below.

The trials that tested people with a real sleep problem tell the plainer story. In the 2011 pilot, adults who had lived with insomnia for at least six months took 270 mg of extract twice a day for four weeks. Their sleep diaries showed no difference from placebo on any measure. The nursing home trial, where the effect was positive, was single-blind and gave no effect size in its abstract.

The tea trial deserves its own sentence because it is the only one that tested what people drink. New mothers in Taiwan with poor sleep drank chamomile tea for two weeks and reported fewer sleep problems than women on usual care. There was no placebo tea to compare against. Four weeks later the two groups scored the same.

Myth. Chamomile has not been shown to treat insomnia. In the one placebo-controlled trial in people with chronic insomnia, sleep diaries showed no significant difference from placebo, and NIH says there is very little information on chamomile's effect on insomnia.

Who should be careful

NIH describes chamomile as likely safe when taken orally in the amounts found in teas and other foods. In the 2024 review, no trial reported an adverse event, but all of its trials except one only recorded problems people volunteered, which is a weak way to find side effects.

Not for everyone. If you take warfarin, talk to whoever manages it before making chamomile a nightly habit. A review of 149 articles lists chamomile tea among the foods and herbs that raise bleeding risk with warfarin, on case-report level evidence. NIH also notes reported interactions with some drugs processed by the liver, and a theoretical reason to expect one with sedatives, which matters if you are already taking something to sleep.

For people with contact allergy to the daisy family, one small study gave capsules of German chamomile and saw no flare of healed patch test reactions. It looked only at skin allergy and does not show that chamomile is safe for people allergic to ragweed, daisies or related plants. We have no card on chamomile for sleep in pregnancy, so this page cannot say anything about it either way.

What expert bodies say

NIH, through its complementary health center: there is very little information on chamomile's effect on insomnia. The same page calls chamomile likely safe in the amounts found in tea, and lists the warfarin and liver-drug interactions above.

How we searched

Searched: a local copy of the PubMed baseline on 6 October 2026 for chamomile or Matricaria with sleep, insomnia or anxiety (4 hits, none on sleep), then Europe PMC for chamomile with sleep or insomnia in trials and reviews (40 hits, 6 relevant after targeted follow-up searches). Also a ClinicalTrials.gov snapshot (one completed trial, the 2011 pilot), the drug interaction store (nothing), and the NIH chamomile page.

Included: two meta-analyses, three randomized trials and the NIH page. Every quotation was matched by script against a second, independent request. None of the papers was retracted.

Excluded: trials of inhaled chamomile oil, which is aromatherapy rather than tea, a drink that mixed chamomile with L-theanine, reviews of anxiety rather than sleep, narrative reviews with no analysis of their own, and a review of chamomile in pregnancy with no sleep result.

What we read: abstracts, through Europe PMC, and the NIH page itself.

What we could not get: the full texts of both meta-analyses and of the tea and nursing home trials, all behind publisher paywalls. That is why the number of cups in the tea trial and the size of the nursing home effect are missing from this page.

What would change this answer

A placebo-controlled trial of chamomile tea, as people drink it, in adults with insomnia, with sleep measured by a wrist device or a sleep lab and not only by questionnaire.
Trials that report the dose of tea, the steeping time and how long any benefit lasts.
A trial that asks every participant about side effects, rather than waiting for complaints.

More on the drink itself: chamomile tea. The same question for a supplement: magnesium and sleep.

The food behind this question

Chamomile tea: a pleasant cup with thin evidence behind it — numbers, evidence and safety

The same question for other foods (sleep)

Sources

ev-chsl-01 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials · n = 772
A significant reduction in PSQI score (WMD: -1.88, 95 %CI: -3.46, -0.31, I2: 88.4 %, n = 5) was found.
Who: Healthy or diseased adults in 10 clinical trials of chamomile, 772 participants
Effect: PSQI WMD -1.88 (95% CI -3.46 to -0.31), I2 88.4%, 5 studies
Certainty: Mostly capsule extracts, not tea; one study checked blinding and product potency; I2 88%.
Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2024 · checked 2026-10-06 · we read the abstract
ev-chsl-02 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials · n = 772
No adverse events were reported in any of the studies although passive surveillance was used to assess adverse effects except in one study.
Who: Adults in 10 clinical trials of chamomile, 772 participants
Effect: no adverse events reported in any study; passive surveillance in all but one
Certainty: Absence of reported harm under passive surveillance is weak evidence of safety; allergy risk is covered by chte-r4-07 and NCCIH.
Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2024 · checked 2026-10-06 · we read the abstract
ev-chsl-03 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and quasi-randomized trials · n = 12 RCTs
Noteworthy, our meta-analysis showed a significant improvement in sleep quality after chamomile administration (standardized mean difference = -0.73, 95% CI [-1.23, -0.23], P < 0.005).
Who: Adults in 12 RCTs of chamomile for anxiety, insomnia or sleep quality
Effect: sleep quality SMD -0.73 (95% CI -1.23 to -0.23)
Certainty: Includes quasi-randomized trials; sleep quality pooled from few small studies.
Phytotherapy Research, 2019 · checked 2026-10-06 · we read the abstract
ev-chsl-04 · Randomized controlled trial(s) · randomized controlled trial, tea vs usual care, no placebo · n = 80
However, the scores for all three instruments were similar for both groups at 4-week post-test, suggesting that the positive effects of chamomile tea were limited to the immediate term.
Who: Postnatal women with poor sleep quality (PSQS 16 or more), Taiwan
Effect: positive effects limited to the immediate term; scores similar in both groups at 4-week post-test
Certainty: Only trial of the tea itself; open label with no placebo drink; tea dose per day not in the abstract.
Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2016 · checked 2026-10-06 · we read the abstract
ev-chsl-05 · Randomized controlled trial(s) · randomized double-blind placebo-controlled pilot trial · n = 34
There were no significant differences between groups in changes in sleep diary measures, including total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency, sleep latency, wake after sleep onset (WASO), sleep quality, and number of awakenings.
Who: Adults aged 18 to 65 with DSM-IV primary insomnia for 6 months or more
Effect: no significant between-group differences in total sleep time, latency, efficiency, WASO or awakenings; no difference in adverse events
Certainty: Pilot size; extract capsules, not tea.
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011 · checked 2026-10-06 · we read the abstract
ev-chsl-06 · Randomized controlled trial(s) · single-blind randomized controlled trial, wheat flour placebo · n = 60
However, after the intervention, sleep quality in the treatment group was significantly better than the control group (P<0.05).
Who: Elderly people aged 60 or more in a day care nursing home, Iran
Effect: PSQI sleep quality better in treatment group after intervention (P < 0.05); baseline equal (P = 0.639)
Certainty: Single-blind; effect size not given in abstract; extract, not tea.
Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2017 · checked 2026-10-06 · we read the abstract
ev-chsl-07 · Position of an expert body · agency web page · n = —
There's very little information on chamomile's effect on insomnia.
Who: People with insomnia
Effect: agency summary: very little information on insomnia
Certainty: Two requests: WebFetch of the NCCIH page and a WebSearch for the exact sentence returned the same wording.
NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Chamomile: Usefulness and Safety · checked 2026-10-06 · we read the section
chte-r4-07 · Observational data · double-blind randomized oral provocation in allergic and non-allergic volunteers · n = not stated in abstract
None of the subjects had a flare-up of healed patch test reactions. According to the NRS, SLM-positive individuals experienced a significant worsening of hand eczema, independently of whether they received chamomile or lactose capsules.
Who: individuals with and without contact allergy to sesquiterpene lactone mix
Effect: no flare-up of healed patch tests; eczema worsening equal with chamomile and lactose
Certainty: Small, skin allergy only; anaphylaxis not studied.
Contact Dermatitis, 2020 · checked 2026-10-01 · we read the abstract
chte-r4-08 · Observational data · systematic review of interaction reports · n = 149 articles
While most food, herbs and supplements can be safely taken in moderation, healthcare professionals should be aware of the increased risk of bleeding when taking several food and herbs. These include Chinese wolfberry, chamomile tea, cannabis, cranberry, chitosan, green tea, Ginkgo biloba, ginger, spinach, St. John's Wort, sushi and smoking tobacco.
Who: 149 articles, 78 herbs, foods or supplements with warfarin
Effect: chamomile tea named among bleeding-risk items; no size
Certainty: Case-report level evidence for chamomile.
Br J Clin Pharmacol, 2021 · checked 2026-10-01 · we read the abstract
chte-r4-10 · Position of an expert body · agency web page · n = -
Chamomile is likely safe when used orally in amounts commonly found in teas and other foods.
Who: general population
Effect: no number
Certainty: Agency summary.
NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Chamomile: Usefulness and Safety, updated November 2024 · checked 2026-10-01 · we read the section
chte-r4-11 · Position of an expert body · agency web page · n = -
Interactions between chamomile and some drugs metabolized by the liver and warfarin (a blood thinner) have been reported, and there are theoretical reasons to suspect that chamomile might interact with other drugs as well, such as sedatives.
Who: people taking warfarin, liver-metabolized drugs or sedatives
Effect: no number
Certainty: Agency summary of case reports.
NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Chamomile: Usefulness and Safety, updated November 2024 · checked 2026-10-01 · we read the section

How this page was made. Evidence was extracted from primary sources into cards, every number was re-checked against the source, and the text was written from those cards. Bioma Learn has no human medical reviewer at this time, and we say so rather than invent one. Methodology. This is information, not medical advice.