Like any other herbs, lemon balm hits that sweet spot where yummy meets healthy. If you usually use lemon balm to spruce up your go-to bakeries and jams, make tea, or marinate your favorite meat, know that this herb goes way beyond that. It also produces a whole lot of health benefits.

One of them? It can give you great, quality sleep.

A part of the mint family, lemon balm is an herb originally found in Europe, North Africa and West Asia. It has been used since the Middle Ages as the go-to source for promoting sleep, easing anxiety, healing wounds, improving brain functions, and combating stress. [1]

Fast forward to today, lemon balm is a key ingredient for sleep aids.

Lemon balm benefits on sleep, stress and anxiety

Lemon balm is known for its mild sedative feature. This has made the herb the go-to for easing anxiety and insomnia for centuries.

A study has shown that when ingested with food, lemon balm enhances mood and brain functions among young adults. [1] When combined with valerian root, it also remedies concentration difficulties and impulsiveness among elementary school children. [2]

Lemon balm has also been found to soothe insomnia and sleep disorders, especially during menopause. [3] Insomnia and sleep apnea, sometimes with depression and anxiety, are usual aspects of menopause. Lemon balm helps with getting better quality sleep because it delivers a mild sedative feeling and prompts the production of more serotonin, which makes a person feel better and happier.

As a calming agent, lemon balm can also help regulate your mood. According to a 2004 study, the herb was found to have eased the “negative mood effects” of “laboratory-induced psychological stress”. Those who participated in the study observed marked feelings of calmness and reduced alertness. They also experienced “a significant increase in the speed of mathematical processing.” [4, 5]

Other benefits of lemon balm

The lemon balm goes beyond easing insomnia, sleep disorders, stress, and anxiety. It delivers a whole lot of other health benefits like the following:

#1 Lemon balm protects you from cardiovascular and liver diseases.

According to a 2012 study, lemon balm can bring down your high triglycerides, which can increase the risk of heart disease and serve as an indication of metabolic syndrome – a set of conditions that make heart disease, stroke and Type II diabetes likely. This is possible when it’s used as part of aromatherapy. [5, 6, 7]

Lemon balm can also make your liver more effective in synthesizing cholesterol. The same study showed that inhaling lemon balm oil could prevent factors that trigger the growth of a common liver cancer cell.

#2 Lemon balm serves as an antibacterial... a natural one.

Kombucha lovers listen up! Lemon balm kombuchas contain antibacterial qualities that can help you naturally fend off infectious bacteria and other disease-causing agents. [8] It also fights candida, a common yeast infection, at a high level of antibacterial properties. [9]

#3 Lemon helps fight diabetes.

The herb can counteract diabetes in a natural way.

When researchers tested lemon balm essential oil, they had found that it brought down blood sugar levels and lowered diabetes-related oxidative stress. [10] They were on the same page as those at the Free University of Berlin who reported, “ethanolic lemon balm extract can potentially be used to prevent or concomitantly treat type 2 diabetes.” [11]

#4 Lemon balm helps your tummy.

It can prevent gastric ulcers [12] and serve as a natural remedy for constipation when mixed with peppermint and angelica root. [13]

And here’s a bonus: did you know that lemon balm sorbet could remedy dyspepsia? Sounds like a win-win to me! [14]

Power combo for sleep: lemon balm and valerian root

As earlier mentioned, lemon balm – when mixed with valerian root – can have some pretty powerful effects, like help children concentrate better and become less impulsive. [2]

A 2013 study published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice also showed that this duo significantly improved quality of sleep among 100 women going through menopause, as compared to those who didn’t take it. [15]

This combination makes a whole lot of sense in making for a powerful sleep aid. You know the benefits of lemon balm when it comes to sleep (and stress reduction). But valerian itself is something.

The most common use for valerian is as a remedy for sleeping disorders, specifically insomnia.

It’s also taken orally for anxiety and stress, although more research is needed to support this claim.

This said, the benefits of valerian are as follows: [16]

falling asleep faster
better sleep quality
relief from restlessness and other anxiety disorder symptoms
no "hangover effect" in the morning

If you want a product that has both ingredients, check out VALI Sleep Well. It has both lemon balm and Valerian root extract, as well as other ingredients backed by nature and proven by science to help you maintain a balanced sleep cycle schedule without damaging side effects. (It doesn’t make you dependent for sleeping.) Sleep Well also makes biohacking sleep easier with deodorized Valerian to benefit from this amazing herb without its potent smell!

Try other sleep hacks

If you normally find yourself having trouble sleeping, there are many other ways on how you can hack it. Here are a few articles that can give you life hacks and some better-quality snooze: