Introduction: The quest for treatment of insomnia without 
side effects has been elusive and thus has led to herbal 
therapies. Two such supplements are Ayurvedic-based 
herbs, Ashwagandha and valerian. Even though the anti
inflammatory and antioxidant properties of Ashwagandha 
have been investigated, its sleep enhancing properties have 
not been studied. It was hypothesized that Ashwagandha 
would have sleep quality enhancing effects similar to those 
of valerian and would be more beneficial than the placebo. 
Further, a smart phone app based sleep assessment 
technology was utilized to monitor the participants in this 
study.  
Methods: Thirty-three participants were given either 
Ashwagandha, valerian, or placebo for 4 weeks (single 
blinded and randomized) and their sleep quality was 
monitored using a smart phone app or with questionnaires. 
After this study period and a brief washout period, the 
same procedure was repeated except the participants did 
not take any supplement, serving as a comparison 
measurement. 
Results: Sleep quality improved significantly in 
participants who took Ashwagandha (P<0.0001) when 
compared to valerian and placebo. They also appeared to 
have a higher percentage of deep sleep than the other 
groups. A much greater sleep quality increase was 
observed during the study period than during the later  comparison period in both of the herbal groups (p=0.02) but 
not in the placebo group. In addition, the app-based sleep 
monitoring system appeared feasible in this study. 
Conclusions: The results suggest that Ashwagandha may 
be an effective sleep-enhancing supplement. Its exact 
clinical relevance is not known and further investigation 
would be required to elucidate these findings.Samuel J Asirvatham (2014), A Randomized Trial of Ayurvedic Herbal Remedies for Sleep Quality: An App-Based 
Assessment. Aperito J Drug Design Pharmacol 1:109