Peppermint before bed: scientists confirm 30 minutes is enough to fall asleep faster

Peppermint before bed: scientists confirm 30 minutes is enough to fall asleep faster

Insomnia is the unwelcome bedfellow of nearly 1 in 5 people in France, and if you’re a woman, the odds are even less in your favor—twice as many women as men wrestle with sleep. The most common variety? It’s that frustrating kind known as sleep onset insomnia: the inability to fall asleep within 30 minutes of turning the lights off, usually thanks to anxious thoughts running wild just when you crave calm. But before you make peace with counting sheep or staring at the ceiling, there’s promising news straight from the world of natural remedies—specifically from your garden.

The Research: Peppermint’s Potential Unveiled

Let’s take a detour to Saudi Arabia, where the Biology Department at Taibah University has been cultivating more than just curiosity. There, a team of researchers looked at a humble, aromatic herb known for thriving in gardens—particularly from May to September. Their aim? To find out whether this familiar plant could do more than liven up your mojito, and actually soothe your brain for easier sleep.

To add scientific rigor (and a dash of suspense), they recruited 124 healthy students (with an average age of 22, and 87% were women). These volunteers were split randomly into two evenly sized groups:

• The first group drank an infusion of 250 mg of this special herb—spoiler alert: it’s peppermint—30 minutes before their planned bedtime, every night for a month.
• The second group (the control group) had to drink an infusion made from any other plant (take your pick!) daily during the same period.

Measuring More Than Just Zzz’s

Science loves a good questionnaire, so both groups completed a comprehensive survey before and after the study. They rated their:

• Levels of anxiety and stress
• Memory and cognitive performance
• Delay before falling asleep (latency)
• Overall sleep quality

Participants self-identified as either a ‘good sleeper’ or ‘poor sleeper.’ To qualify as the latter, you had to tick at least five boxes out of seven—think long sleep latency, short duration, night-time disturbances, getting up at night, using medication to sleep, daytime attention struggles, and good old fatigue.

The Results: Peppermint for the Win?

So, what did this little herb deliver? Though full breakdowns from the first group are not revealed here, the contrast with the control group speaks volumes. In the control group—that is, those sipping on miscellaneous plant infusions—the number of ‘poor sleepers’ actually crept up ever so slightly: from 43 at the start to 44 after one month. Not quite the direction you want for your sleep statistics.

The researchers, publishing their findings in the Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmacognosy Research, point to the likely hero in this story: peppermint’s high concentration of bioactive compounds that are recognized for their calming and sedative effects. According to their work, peppermint may offer positive effects on both brain health and sleep quality.

For those eager to try this at home, the instructions are refreshingly simple (pun intended):

• Measure out 250 mg of peppermint leaves—dried or fresh (easy to buy in bulk at a shop or better yet, harvest from your backyard chaos garden).
• Steep the leaves for 10 minutes in hot water.
• Drink up, about 30 minutes before you call it a night.

But before you throw a tea party in your pajamas, take note—these encouraging results need additional confirmation among a broader array of people. The researchers themselves emphasize the need for larger sample sizes to truly confirm just how universally effective peppermint might be for sleep onset woes.

Final Thoughts: Could Peppermint Be Your Ticket to Dreamland?

If late-night rumination has you wide-eyed at midnight, and you don’t love the idea of medication, it’s heartening to know that something as simple as peppermint might help. The next time the clock ticks past your intended lights-out time, why not brew a cup and see where the night leads you? At worst, you’ll enjoy a pleasant herbal infusion—at best, you might finally meet that elusive decent night’s sleep. Sweet dreams, one cup at a time!