Chamomile is famous and loved for its sleep-inducing properties.
Besides the fact that studies have shown that drinking a caffeine-free warm drink before bed can help you relax, chamomile goes one step further because it contains a substance called apigenin.
Apigenin blocks neuroreceptors in your brain. Specifically, it binds to the GABA receptors, which has a relaxing effect on your body.
These same receptors react when you take anti-anxiety medication or sedatives; chamomile is effectively nature’s sedative.
Research suggests that the apigenin takes 45 minutes to metabolize through your body and begin affecting your brain. Studies show that drinking chamomile tea before bed can help you fall asleep, and 15 minutes quicker than usual.
There are also studies that have measured the quality of sleep after having drunk chamomile and not surprisingly conclude that there is a substantial increase.
Apigenin may counter the detractors of quality sleep – stress, nightmares and depression, assisting you to rest and recharge properly.
Chamomile tea is so widely used and known for its benefit regarding high quality sleep that some studies even found that we now associate the taste and smell of chamomile so closely with sleepiness that, for some people, a placebo effect takes place whereby they feel sleepy because they believe you should.
