بال چھڑ · Valeriana officinalis, balchhar
Weak evidence
Long used for sleep, but the trials are inconsistent and often poor quality.
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A root used as a sleep and calming remedy in European and Unani traditions, with a famously unpleasant smell.
Reviews keep reaching the same conclusion: studies are small, poorly blinded - the smell makes blinding difficult - and the results contradict one another. Some people find it clearly helps them sleep. That may be real and simply not captured yet, but it is not what the evidence currently supports.
Studies commonly used 300 to 600 mg of extract about an hour before bed.
Recorded because a person who has decided to try something will find a number somewhere, and a forum's number is worse than a trial's. It is not a recommendation, and the right amount for you depends on things only a doctor who knows your history can weigh.
Adds to alcohol, sleeping tablets and other sedatives - do not stack, and take care driving next morning. A minority feel stimulated rather than calmed. Rare liver injury reports, usually in combination products. Not for pregnancy.
Sold as balchhar by pansaris and as imported capsules in pharmacies. Strength of loose powder is unknown.
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