Where Does Lavender Have the Strongest Evidence?

Lavender has been investigated in many areas, but its strongest modern clinical evidence concerns anxiety, stress-related symptoms and sleep, particularly when lavender essential oil is used.

One of the best-studied preparations is Silexan, a standardized lavender oil taken orally. Analyses of randomized clinical trials have found significant reductions in anxiety symptoms, together with improvements in quality of life and generally good tolerability.

Lavender oil inhalation has also been studied extensively. A systematic review found that most of the included clinical trials reported reductions in anxiety following lavender inhalation.

Sleep is another particularly interesting area. A recent analysis focusing on older adults found that most of the included studies reported improvements in sleep problems. In these studies, lavender was used by inhalation.

By comparison, human clinical research on non-volatile lavender extracts is much more limited. Some promising results have been reported, including research into blood pressure, but the evidence is not nearly as established as it is for lavender essential oil.