Clinical Practice Guideline for the Pharmacologic Treatment of Chronic Insomnia in Adults: An American Academy of…
The sleep-medicine guideline recommends against valerian for insomnia — what does it recommend instead for someone like me, and does that include CBT for insomnia?
Well-supported by good-quality research. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: A WEAK GRADE recommendation against a treatment is not a finding that it is dangerous; it means the trials are too few, too small, and too inconsistent to justify recommending it. The guideline also notes that it downgraded evidence quality across the board because most insomnia drug trials are industry-funded and carry publication-bias risk. It is now nine years old.
Valerian is sold in the United States as a dietary supplement under DSHEA, so it needs no FDA review of efficacy, safety, or potency before sale, and it has never been FDA-approved to treat insomnia, anxiety, or anything else.
After a systematic review of randomised trials graded with GRADE, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued an explicit recommendation against valerian: "We suggest that clinicians not use valerian as a treatment for sleep onset or sleep maintenance insomnia (versus no treatment) in adults." It sits alongside the same negative recommendation for melatonin, diphenhydramine, trazodone, and tryptophan. The recommendation is graded WEAK, which reflects the low certainty of the underlying evidence rather than proof that valerian is harmful.
Worth asking
The sleep-medicine guideline recommends against valerian for insomnia — what does it recommend instead for someone like me, and does that include CBT for insomnia?
Source
Clinical Practice Guideline for the Pharmacologic Treatment of Chronic Insomnia in Adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline. — Sateia MJ, Buysse DJ, Krystal AD, Neubauer DN, Heald JL. (2017)
Reputable peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.6470
DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.6470
How this was scored
- Study design
- National clinical guideline
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
- Published in
- Reputable peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- not recorded
- Preregistered
- No
- Conflicts disclosed
- No
- Independent of proponent
- Yes
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "strong evidence". Well-supported by good-quality research. It scores 70 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: A WEAK GRADE recommendation against a treatment is not a finding that it is dangerous; it means the trials are too few, too small, and too inconsistent to justify recommending it. The guideline also notes that it downgraded evidence quality across the board because most insomnia drug trials are industry-funded and carry publication-bias risk. It is now nine years old. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Clinical Practice Guideline for the Pharmacologic Treatment of Chronic Insomnia in Adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline. — Sateia MJ, Buysse DJ, Krystal AD, Neubauer DN, Heald JL. (2017). Published in: Reputable peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.6470. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: National clinical guideline. Funding: Funding not disclosed. The researchers were independent of whoever benefits from the result. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is valerian, valeriana officinalis, valerian root, all-heal, garden heliotrope, setwall, li 156, sedonium FDA approved for this use?
No. Its current status is: Not FDA-evaluated for this use. Valerian is sold in the United States as a dietary supplement under DSHEA, so it needs no FDA review of efficacy, safety, or potency before sale, and it has never been FDA-approved to treat insomnia, anxiety, or anything else.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.