Compound or practice · Supplement
Lavender (Silexan)
Oral lavender oil (Silexan) has genuinely good anxiety evidence — rivaling low-dose anxiolytics without sedation.
- Overall grade
- Grade B
- Last revised
- 1
- graded outcome
- 0
- references listed
A structured monograph in Prometheus's bundled library. Its grades are the monograph's own reading of the evidence, not a peer-reviewed review.
1 at grade B — 1 graded row
What is known
Each outcome with its grade (how strong the evidence is, A to D), the size of the effect where the entry records one, and how often studies agree.
- AnxietyEvidence grade B
Silexan RCTs
Moderatehigh
The evidence in words
What it is
A standardized oral lavender-oil preparation (Silexan) used for anxiety; also used aromatically.
How it works
It appears to modulate calcium channels and serotonergic signaling, producing anxiolysis without sedation or dependence.
What the evidence shows
Multiple RCTs show Silexan reduces generalized and subsyndromal anxiety, in some trials comparably to low-dose lorazepam or paroxetine, without sedation or dependence — strong for a botanical.
Safety & interactions
Well tolerated; the main side effect is lavender burps.
Bottom line
One of the better-evidenced natural anxiolytics: standardized oral lavender (Silexan) for anxiety, non-sedating and non-habit-forming.
Related reading
Entries that share this one's tags or conditions.
- Lemon BalmA pleasant mint-family herb with small acute anxiety, mood, and sleep signals.Evidence grade C
- Holy Basil (Tulsi)A gentle adaptogen with early evidence for stress, anxiety, and metabolic markers — promising, thin, low-risk.Evidence grade C
- KavaOne of the few genuinely effective anxiety botanicals — shadowed by a real (if debated) liver-safety history.Evidence grade B
- Kava for AnxietyEvidence grade B — Meta-analytic vs placeboEvidence grade B
Sources
This entry lists no references of its own.
Last revised . A grade is this entry's reading of the evidence, not medical advice.