Relaxation Research Analysis

Human Effect Matrix

The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (it excludes animal and in vitro studies) to tell you what supplements affect relaxation

Grade	Level of Evidence [show legend]
	Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials
	Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled
	Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies
	Uncontrolled or observational studies only

Outcome	Magnitude of effect ? The direction and size of the supplement's impact on each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.	Consistency of research results ? Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.	Notes
Theanine	Notable	Very High See all 3 studies	A notable increase in relaxation (usually without sedation) appears to occur, as assessed by neural measurements (such as alpha-waves) or self-report surveys. Occurs within 30 minutes to an hour
Marijuana	Notable	- See study	The dose and time which confer psychoactive effects are associated with reported of relaxation to a larger degree than control.
Lavender	Minor	Very High See all 3 studies	An increase in the magnitude of self-reported 'relaxation' is noted with lavender aromatherapy more than placebo
Melissa officinalis	Minor	- See study	An increase in self-reports of relaxation occur, which may be related to the increased calmness and sedation ratings also seen

All comparative evidence is now gathered in our A-to-Z Supplement Reference.

The evidence for each separate supplement is still freely available here.