Passiflora and Sleep: Can Passionflower Really Help You Sleep?

Wellness Without The Noise #17

You’re tired.

You’ve been looking forward to bed for hours.

Then your head hits the pillow and suddenly your brain decides it would quite like to think about tomorrow’s to-do list, something you forgot to do last Tuesday and a conversation you had three years ago.

Sound familiar?

Sleep is one of those things we barely think about when it’s going well.

When it isn’t, it can affect everything.

And there certainly isn’t a shortage of advice about what we should be doing about it.

There are supplements, teas, sprays, apps, trackers and endless social media advice promising to help us finally get that elusive good night’s sleep.

Some of it may be useful.

Some of it is clever marketing.

And somewhere amongst all that noise are traditional botanicals that were being used long before sleep became an industry.

One of those is Passiflora, better known as passionflower.

It has been associated with relaxation and sleep for generations.

But what do we actually know about Passiflora and sleep today?

That’s what we’re interested in.

Not telling you what to think.

Not promising you a miracle.

Just giving you the real story, so you can make an informed decision for yourself.

Passiflora and Sleep: Why Can It Be So Difficult to Switch Off?

There isn’t one single reason we struggle to sleep.

Stress and worry can keep our minds racing. Caffeine and alcohol can affect sleep. Changes in routine, our sleeping environment, physical and mental health and hormonal changes can all play a part too.

And then there’s simply modern life.

We can spend an evening answering emails, watching television, checking messages and scrolling through our phones, then expect our brains to go from fully switched on to peacefully asleep in five minutes.

It doesn’t always work like that.

So before we even talk about supplements, it’s worth looking at the bigger picture.

A regular routine, giving yourself time to wind down, keeping your bedroom comfortable and looking at things such as caffeine and alcohol can all be sensible places to start.

But people have also been turning to plants and botanical preparations as part of their evening routines for a very long time.

And Passiflora has a particularly interesting story.

Passiflora and Sleep: What Actually Is Passiflora?

Passiflora is the botanical genus commonly known as passionflower, named for the extraordinary flowers produced by the plant.

One particular species, Passiflora incarnata, has a long history of traditional herbal use in connection with relaxation and sleep.

And we really do mean a long history.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products recognises the long-standing traditional use of specified Passiflora incarnata preparations for the relief of mild symptoms of mental stress and to aid sleep.

Importantly, that recognition is based on traditional use, rather than Passiflora being classified as a clinically established treatment.

So the association between passionflower and sleep certainly wasn’t invented by today’s wellness industry.

But tradition is only one part of the story.

Because researchers have also been asking whether some of those traditional associations can actually be observed in controlled human studies.

What Does the Research Say About Passiflora and Sleep?

This is where things get interesting.

In 2011, researchers carried out a double-blind, placebo-controlled study involving 41 healthy adults aged 18 to 35.

Participants drank either Passiflora incarnata herbal tea or a placebo tea before bed for a week, before switching after a washout period.

The researchers found that participants rated their sleep quality significantly better during the passionflower tea period compared with placebo.

It’s a relatively small study, but it gave researchers an interesting result to investigate further.

And that’s exactly what happened.

What Happened When Researchers Looked at People Experiencing Insomnia?

A later double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled study involved 110 adults who met the criteria for insomnia disorder.

This time researchers weren’t relying solely on participants saying whether they thought they’d slept better.

They also used polysomnography, a sleep study that objectively measures what is happening while somebody sleeps.

Participants received either a Passiflora extract or placebo for two weeks.

The result?

Total sleep time increased significantly in the Passiflora group compared with the placebo group.

Some other measures improved within the Passiflora group but were not significantly different from placebo, and the researchers concluded that further studies were warranted.

That’s a rather more nuanced result than either:

“Passionflower is proven to cure insomnia.”

or:

“There’s no evidence behind passionflower.”

Neither gives you the real story.

And Research Is Continuing

There has been more recent research too.

A 2024 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study looked at a standardised Passiflora incarnata extract in 65 people experiencing stress and sleep problems.

Participants took either the Passiflora preparation or placebo at bedtime for 30 days.

Researchers reported a statistically significant increase in total sleep time in the Passiflora group compared with placebo, alongside improvements in some of the other outcomes they measured.

Again, it’s not the final word.

Sixty-five people isn’t thousands of people, and one particular Passiflora extract isn’t every Passiflora product.

But taken together, we have something worth paying attention to:

Long-standing traditional use plus a developing body of human research producing some genuinely interesting findings.

So, Is Passiflora Proven to Help You Sleep?

This is where we think wellness conversations need a little more honesty.

Science rarely gives us the wonderfully neat YES/NO answers that make good social media posts.

Different studies use different preparations.

They use different concentrations and doses.

They involve different groups of people.

They measure different things.

And research develops over time.

So rather than asking whether passionflower has been universally “proven” to make everyone sleep better, perhaps a more useful question is:

What do we currently know?

And the answer is:

Passiflora has a long history of traditional use associated with relaxation and sleep.

Specified Passiflora incarnata preparations are recognised by the EMA on the basis of that long-standing traditional use.

Controlled human studies have reported improvements in subjective sleep quality and total sleep time with particular Passiflora preparations.

And research is continuing.

That’s considerably more useful than either dismissing it or turning it into a miracle.

What About Valerian?

Passiflora isn’t the only traditional botanical associated with the evening.

Another name you may recognise is Valerian.

Valerian has its own long history of traditional botanical use and has frequently been combined with Passiflora in herbal preparations.

In fact, historical sources considered in the EMA’s assessment of Passiflora incarnata record Passiflora being used in combination with Valeriana officinalis, as well as several other botanicals.

Which brings us neatly to the Lewtress formulation.

What’s Actually in Lewtress Passiflora Complex?

Lewtress Passiflora Complex isn’t simply a bottle containing one botanical.

It’s a concentrated liquid formulation combining:

Passiflora
A botanical with a long history of traditional use associated with relaxation and sleep.

Valerian
Another well-known traditional botanical commonly associated with evening preparations.

Skullcap
A plant with a long history of use in traditional herbal formulations.

Chinese Liquorice
A botanical ingredient that has been used for centuries in traditional preparations.

These are combined with Lewtress traditionally fermented green tea Kombucha culture.

It’s a liquid formulation, making it a simple alternative for people who don’t necessarily want another capsule or tablet as part of their routine.

The suggested intake is 15-25 drops before bedtime, as required.

There’s One Thing We Think You Should Know

The research we’ve talked about in this article wasn’t carried out using Lewtress Passiflora Complex.

It looked at specific preparations of Passiflora incarnata.

That’s an important distinction.

Research into a botanical ingredient isn’t automatically clinical evidence for every finished supplement containing that botanical.

But that doesn’t make the research irrelevant.

It helps us understand why Passiflora has attracted scientific interest, what researchers have discovered so far and where the questions still remain.

And we think you deserve to know the difference.

Is Passiflora Complex Right for You?

That’s ultimately a decision for you to make.

Perhaps you’re already interested in traditional botanicals.

Perhaps you’ve been reading about Passiflora or Valerian and wanted to understand whether there’s actually any research behind them.

Perhaps you prefer liquid botanical formulations to tablets and capsules.

Or perhaps you’ve simply been wondering whether passionflower is another passing wellness trend.

Hopefully, you now have a much better idea of the story behind it.

And that’s really the point.

Wellness Doesn’t Need to Be All or Nothing

This is something we think gets lost far too often.

You don’t have to choose between:

“People have used this plant for centuries, so it must work.”

and:

“Unless science has proved absolutely everything about it, it’s worthless.”

There’s a great deal of interesting territory between those two positions.

Traditional use can tell us something.

Modern research can tell us something more.

New research may change or deepen our understanding again.

And good wellness information should allow you to see all of it.

The Real Story on Passiflora and Sleep

So, can passionflower really help you sleep?

Here’s what we know.

It has a long history of traditional use associated with relaxation and sleep.

That traditional use is formally recognised for specified Passiflora incarnata preparations by the European Medicines Agency.

Human clinical studies have produced some promising results, including improvements in reported sleep quality and increases in total sleep time with specific preparations.

The research is still developing.

And we don’t yet have every answer.

All of those things can be true at the same time.

You don’t need a miracle claim to make Passiflora interesting.

You just need the real story.

Then you can decide what you think.

Less hype. More understanding.

That’s Wellness Without The Noise.

Research & References

Ngan A, Conduit R. A double-blind, placebo-controlled investigation of the effects of Passiflora incarnata (passionflower) herbal tea on subjective sleep quality. Phytotherapy Research. 2011;25(8):1153-1159.

Lee J, Jung HY, Lee SI, Choi JH, Kim SG. Effects of Passiflora incarnata Linnaeus on polysomnographic sleep parameters in subjects with insomnia disorder: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study. International Clinical Psychopharmacology. 2020;35(1):29-35.

Harit MK et al. Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Clinical Study of Passiflora incarnata in Participants With Stress and Sleep Problems. Cureus. 2024;16(3):e56530.

European Medicines Agency. Passiflorae herba – herbal medicinal product.

Research discussed in this article relates to the particular Passiflora preparations investigated in individual studies. It should not be interpreted as clinical evidence that Lewtress Passiflora Complex will produce the same outcomes.