Catnip Is My Secret for Finally Getting Eight Hours of Sleep

Quieting my mind has never been a talent I possess. During stressful periods of my life, I find myself tossing and turning. All. Night. Long. I’m sure I’m not the only millennial to say this: Falling asleep is hard, man. More and more of my conversations with friends and coworkers revolve around the endless pursuit of a full eight hours. In my very frustrating search for a sleep solution, I stumbled across an unexpected miracle ingredient: Catnip.

I do all the things you’re supposed to do for a great night’s rest: Adding drops of lavender oil into my diffuser, meditating, and slathering my body with CBD lotion. Yet, until recently, I still couldn’t stay asleep. One night I decided to brew a cup of Sleep Tea I’d gotten in package of plant-based meals from Sakara Life. I figured it was just like any other bedtime chamomile tea, so I steeped it and got sipping before passing out less than an hour later for the most restful sleep I’d had in months.

The next morning, I grabbed the box to find out which ingredients I had to thank for such a glorious night and saw the magic combo—catnip and valerian root.

Valerian root has calming effects thanks to its ability to increase levels of GABA, or gamma-Aminobutyric acid, a chemical our bodies produce that helps slow brain cell activity. The catnip, however, really threw me for a loop since it conjures up images of my grandmother’s cat going buck wild, not catching Zs.

Catnip is actually a member of the mint family and contains a compound called nepetalactone which calms the central nervous system. “Though nepetalactone can have psychoactive effects on cats, it doesn’t have the same effect on humans,” explains Danielle DuBoise, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Sakara Life. “It’s very mild and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which invites calm to the body.”

I mentioned my new-found love for this tea to Jules Miller, Founder and CEO of vitamin and supplement company The Nue Co. during a meeting and she told me that catnip is actually one of the best ingredients a person can take for sleep.

“It has a very mild sedative effect which can help you drift off,” says Miller. “Used in combination with other ingredients, it can be incredibly effective.” The Nue Co.’s Sleep Drops tincture has chamomile and passion flower as well as catnip and valerian root which work together to reduce anxiety so you can truly relax. Add it to water or just drop it under your tongue if downing a cup of tea before bed might force you to run to the bathroom mid-REM cycle.

With these two products in my arsenal, catnip has become the magic ingredient in my nighttime wind-down routine. Shop some more catnip-infused products for a blissful sleep, ahead.