I normally don’t like sedatives. Since I have some valerian root I got as a free sample just sitting around and it was time for bed, I decided I’ll give it a shot. I needed to get up early the following day so figured it would help me sleep. It’s known for this.

So I brewed 8 grams of cut and sifted valerian root in 1 cup of cold water for 10 minutes. I’ve read that for the best effects you should use cold water.

After 10 minutes I strained the tea, added some sweetener, and drank it down. This was the first time I used the cold water method for valerian. All times prior to this I used hot water. It tastes better this way.

The effects were far more pronounced than I remember from my previous trials with it many years ago. So either the cold water method works better or I just happen to have a more potent batch of valerian.

Within about 30 minutes I was sleepy. Sleeping was very easy. I fell asleep faster than usual. I had lots of dreams, but this is normal for me.

Today, I woke up and could still feel the effects of the valerian. Even after several hours of waking, I still feel the effects. This is the most effect I ever had from valerian.

I don’t usually like sedatives, but valerian is a little different. I don’t feel cloudy headed or slowed down mentally, but I feel calm, very calm. I feel like I’m at the library, as if all the background chatter is gone. I feel focused and very much at ease around people.

This is the first time I really got decent effects from valerian. Overall I liked it. It didn’t have the grogginess of most other sedatives, which is something I hate. It left my mind clear and focused. But I was mentally very relaxed, as if I was laying down on a hammock at the beach. It was soothing, relaxing, but not at all intoxicating. The fact that I felt it the following day was a slight negative, however, the effects weren’t a hindrance, so it wasn’t much of a negative. I was still able to function well mentally. I just had a mild relaxed feeling in my mind for many hours after waking.

I’m curious if anyone else out there has much experience with valerian. What you think of it. And if it goes well with any other herbs. SWIM found it relaxed him while on LSH, but didn’t take him down from his LSH trip. I’m wondering does it do the same for LSD, or does it bring you down from an LSD trip?

I've found Valerian root to work amazingly well to help me get me to sleep. I haven't combined it with any other herbs yet. Here's a previous experience that I posted.
My Valerian Experience

8 grams brewed in cold water for 10 minutes was enough to feel it. It wasn’t strong, but was just enough to be effective. Any less and I think I probably wouldn’t notice it much.

I’m wondering if this can be mixed with Datura inoxia. I’ve seen lots of reports of people mixing it with passionflower or kava kava or both, but none mixing it with Datura inoxia. Datura inoxia, at about 5 seeds, is the most effect sleep enhancer SWIM has tried until he tried a cold water tea of 8 grams of valerian. At that dosage they seem equal in potency. A lot of people are afraid of Datura inoxia, and for good reason, an overdose causes serious delirium and can be deadly. But 5 seeds are completely safe.

I think I’m more interested in combinations of valerian with psychoactives like LSD, mushrooms, etc. I’m curious if it brings the trip down any.

A lot of people find mescaline to be overly stimulating. I wonder if valerian taken at the onset of a mescaline trip would calm it down, but not interfere with the psychedelic effects?

Does anyone here use it for non-sleep related purposes? It seems that most of the reports I’ve read are of using it to aid in sleep, as I just did last night.

I take valerian often. useful for any stressful event imo.
The 'strong' extracts readily avaible everywhere work very well. Usually i tripple the recommended dose.
Havent extracted myself.

Took such a regular tripple dose with about 15g of truffles the other day. It wasnt a deep trip, i remember actually having some trouble drifting into trance. Maybe this was caused by the valerian, but no clearcut conclusions about that. Have to add that the set en setting were not optimal. Also truffels are imo less ideal for deep travelling. Anyways, no potentiation of truffle experience.

I love valerian root. I use it almost everyday, if not everyday. I often take capsules of powdered root or a tincture, just for the convenience. Tea has a much quicker onset and efficiency, but isn't very convenient. If I make tea, normally I use hot water or at least warm water. I have never tried a cold-water extraction. I find fresh root or whole root is much better than aged or powdered root.

I find it mellows out my cactus extract. Matter of fact, I often take valerian towards the end of a trip, whether it be mushrooms, acid, or mescaline. I've never tried taking it early to prevent the "over-stimulation." I will take it when my hands start to shake or I "feel too up." I take it when I am about to go to bed along with melatonin and diphenhydramine. It's very mild, even in large doses. I can never take too much valerian, even with fresh root. Often it will relax me, but it's not enough to put me to sleep.

The 8 grams of cold water extract didn't put me to sleep, but it greatly helped me fall asleep. The effects seemed to be entirely mental, as if all the background noise was completely gone. It made it easy to fall asleep, but wasn’t at all forceful. It produced a mental tranquility that I seem to be still feeling today.

I noticed today my coffee doesn’t work as well. Is that normal? It’s been over 12 hours since I took it to fall asleep. Should I still be feeling it this much later? Did I over do it? In the past it was much milder and I didn't seem to feel it the following day.

I do often wake up groggy, but I take 25mg-100mg of diphenhydramine, 2.32g-4.64g of valerian, and 6mg of melatonin. Sometimes chamomile, hops, etc. will be in the mix. If I don't, then I won't sleep the whole night through. I go to bed by midnight, wake up by 8:30am. I'll smoke some pot, drink coffee about 9-10am, and feeling fine before I finish my coffee or before.

If I don't take the diphenhydramine, then I will wake up persistently throughout the night, but I won't wake up groggy. So, I don't know the answer to "does valerian makes me feel groggy in the morning?" I don't think I take enough to let it affect me. I once could consume valerian tea all day, an ounce of root or so a day, without any noticeable problems. Didn't make me overly drowzy or sedated. The only reason I quit, was because it made me reek, body odor was horrible after a month or two. I can actually find some nice hot valerian root tea, to be a bit of a mood lift. It definitely doesn't work like diphenhydramine. That stuff knocks me out. I do love my downers though, and seem to normally hate mornings, especially without coffee.

I'm sorry, I'm of very little help, I see. How about this:idea: , I've taken 6mg of melatonin already, but no diphenhydramine yet. I have some whole root. I will make a cold water extraction using 10grams. I'll document how well I sleep tonight, and how I feel in the morning. Goodnight, y'all

I wouldn't say I was groggy in the morning. But I could feel it, and it seemed to interfere with how well my coffee worked. I felt sharp, clear headed, but still mentally relaxed no matter how much coffee I had. It was not anything like being groggy. It was just a mild tranquil state of mind. I didn't feel slow or hindered in any way, just peacefully relaxed.

I think that's what I like about it.

If I use melatonin as a sleep aid then I'll feel a little groggy the following day, for the whole day actually. I hate it. But with valerian, it’s not a groggy feeling, more like a peaceful state of mind. It was nice actually. When I went to go pick up my daughter, I felt so peaceful and at ease.

The only negative was that it seemed to inactivate my coffee. But I’m not sure about that. I didn’t get enough sleep last night, plus that stupid daylight savings time messed with me too, so that might be the cause, and it might have nothing to do with valerian. I’ll have to try again on a more normal night to get a better understanding of the effects. Daylight savings time always messes up my sleep pattern and is probably the worst time to test valerian root’s effects.

I've never gotten any effects from valerian I'm aware of and it doesn't help me sleep, but I've never have tried dosages at that level(more around a gram) so maybe I'll try it again. I hate melatonin too it makes me groggy and tired in the morning the next day sometimes gives me headaches too.

Kannamate, I never got much effects from valerian either until last night. I think the cold water extraction was the reason it worked so well. Apparently, the actives are volatile oils, and they easily vaporize away if hot water is used. I don't know if that's true, but that's what I read recently.

I always took them in capsules so I drank with cold water, but I think valerian probably is too weak at 1 gram to sedate at all,or help with sleep. I'll try 8 grams either swallowed(is there any negatives at higher dosages swallowing valerian?) with cold water,or a CWE.

Well I have used valerian in the tincture form regularly for the last month, I may take it 3 times a week.
I found it quite efficient this way. It's relaxing mentally more than sending you straight to sleep. But recently I was starting to have hard time sleeping before 2am and I have to work sometimes from 7am so I decided to try another more sedative herb:
Erythrina Mulungu .
I did the test of each herb and the both together, the mix works very well for me.
Same clear head well relaxed, actually if something happened you can be just as speed as normal but if you start to lie down or read you feel really calm.
SWIM tried valerian tincture while on the end of a LSD journey. That was really pleasant, just before a bath, it doesn't take the effect off but it rather make the trip more dreamy and shut the nerves off. That's a very good thing.
All in all I like valerian but I found it not working as much if used everyday for a week or more.

Judging by the effects I got from 8 grams, I don't think 1 gram would do anything at all to me.

I've not read of any serious adverse affects from valerian unless you are allergic to it. It's considered non-toxic in a lot of text books, so I wouldn't worry too much about adverse effects. The most common adverse effects I've heard of from taking way too much is upset stomach. It seems pretty safe.

This is interesting. SWIM found LSH and valerian was similar. The valerian made the mind quieter, more relaxed, but did not bring the trip down at all. All the pleasantness of the LSH was still there, but mixed with a tranquil mind set. It got rid of the racing thoughts and background chatter in the mind, producing a relaxed state of mind, without feeling sedated. It was a good combination, but the valerian was taken near the end of the trip specifically to sleep. He's not tried it during the peak yet, but will in the future.



Yeah, I've read it produces tolerance if used too often.

Some people really don't like the scent of valerian. My wife hates the smell. It's repulsive to my wife. I find the smell soothing, and the taste soothing. I like it with a little sweetener. It's nice tasting, but the taste lingers in your mouth quite a while.

Are there any combinations with valerian that should be avoided that anyone here has experience with?

Woke up with a bit of a headache, but it was gone within an hour. I do feel a noticeable relaxation, especially in my eyes. I woke up about 7am and couldn't get back to sleep. I haven't smoked any pot yet, because I actually feel pretty good. I think I'll do the yerba mate, instead of coffee this morning. I did toss and turn, waking up 4-6 times throughout the night, but it was pretty easy to fall asleep. Before I went to sleep I noticed a great synergy with marijuana. It seems like valerian relaxes my eyes like pot would. Taking both, really seemed to bring out that effect.

I consumed 10 grams whole root. I powdered it in a coffee grinder. Used cold water from the sink with a french press. The root sat in the water for only about 10 minutes, maybe less. I don't normally drink it cold, because I like the taste better when hot. It was very strong tea. I only made and drank 16-18 ounces. I could feel the valerian within a couple of sips. It did seem to hit me pretty strong and quickly. I forgot how great this stuff was.

Oh yeah, valerian and chamomile make a great match. The chamomile is naturally sweet and sedating, so it really helps out.

Last night I tried 10 grams CWE with 1 cup for 10 minutes, and strained. After drinking, it didn’t have quite the same impact as the night before, I suspect slight tolerance build up occurred. What was interesting though was that about 1 1/2 hours after drinking it, I had a clear sensation of euphoria that lasted about 1 hour before I fell asleep. Is that normal?

I still take my tincture, and yesterday it was a good week I didn't took any, I add 4 dropperfull in a glass mixed with some water (I usually take 3) and I was expecting a good nights sleep within half hours. It didn't happened, I stay awake in my bed for three hours hearing all sorts of sound that was going on in the building, water running, doors and claps unusually clear...
The thing is I take a daily gram or half gram of silene capensis (african dreamroot) since a week, and I noticed it does something to my perceptions during awaken time as well (the dreams are so vivid!), it really cleanse the color and quality of input.
I drunk a CWE of kola nitida during the afternoon too so who knows what is responsible for this light insomnia (waking up every half an hour or so).
Each time I tried to take more than 3 dropperfull I had difficulty to sleep.
However my double dreamster was at ease during the dreams like feeling at home each place he would visit (during the dreamtime) no matter how weird people could behave in dreamscape. Just to say, although there was some insomnia, a typical sense of ease and very peaceful mindset was operating.

I'm getting mixed results from valerian. One day I get euphoria, another day I get a tranquil feeling, another day nothing, another day it puts me to sleep. Very strange. Is it typical to get such a wide range of effects from it? Is it maybe interacting with other things I had throughout the day?

"One study found that valerian tends to sedate the agitated person and stimulate the fatigued person, bringing about a balancing effect on the system."-wikipedia

In general, valerian makes me relaxed and thus tired. Occasionally, it will "pep" me up, but not in a stimulated way. Just makes me feel better, and thus "wakes" me up. Lately, I have been playing with cold versus hot water extractions. The cold extracts seem to be more sedating, than the hot-water extracts.

I read it's more active by cold water extraction, but I haven’t really tested it both ways side by side.

Did you notice any other difference between hot and cold water extracts? Is the cold water extract actually stronger or just more sedating?