For a long time, the case for reishi at bedtime rested on tradition,
a few animal studies, and plenty of people saying it helps them wind
down. This summer that changed a little. A trial presented at SLEEP
2026, a major annual sleep medicine conference, put a reishi extract
head to head with melatonin in adults with chronic insomnia, and reishi
came out ahead.
That’s worth talking about. It’s also worth slowing down on, because
this is one early study with some real gaps in what we know about it.
Here’s what it found, what it can’t tell us yet, and how I’d think about
it if you’re curious.
What the trial found
The study was presented as a late-breaking poster (abstract LBA 1422)
by Ching Xie, MD, of Brooklyn Unity Medical Care. Here’s the setup,
straight from the abstract:
- Who: 218 adults with chronic insomnia, randomly
split into two equal groups. 209 of them (about 96%) finished the
study. - What they took: One group took 980 mg of a reishi
extract each night, standardized to 6% triterpenes. The other took 5 mg
of melatonin each night. - How long: Eight weeks. Enrollment ran from December
2025 to February 2026. - How it was measured: The Insomnia Severity Index
(ISI), a short questionnaire about how much trouble you have falling
asleep, staying asleep, and getting through the day. It’s scored from 0
to 28, and lower is better.
Both groups improved. The reishi group improved more:
- Reishi: ISI scores dropped by 8.7 points on
average. - Melatonin: ISI scores dropped by 5.6 points on
average. - The gap: 3.1 points in reishi’s favor (95%
confidence interval 2.0 to 4.2 points, p < 0.001). In plain terms, a
gap that size is very unlikely to be chance alone. It held up after the
researchers adjusted for age, sex, and how bad each person’s insomnia
was at the start. - Safety: The abstract reports no serious side
effects in either group.
The authors conclude that reishi “demonstrated significantly greater
reduction in insomnia severity compared with melatonin alone” and call
for more research. Patient Care Online covered the study in June and
quoted Dr. Xie saying the extract “may represent a safe and effective
alternative treatment for chronic insomnia.”
How reishi might work
Nobody has nailed down how reishi might affect sleep in people. What
we have are clues, mostly from the lab.
The triterpenes. Reishi’s triterpenes, like the
ganoderic acids, are the bitter compounds that give reishi tea its bite.
The trial standardized its extract to these, and the coverage of the
study points to GABA, the brain’s main calming messenger, as a possible
pathway.
The animal work. A 2007 study in rats and mice (Chu
and colleagues, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior) found
that a water extract of reishi helped sedated rats fall asleep faster
and sleep longer. When the researchers gave a drug that blocks
benzodiazepine receptors, part of that effect went away, which points to
a GABA-related mechanism, at least in part. Interestingly, the extract
didn’t change the sleep pattern of normal, untreated rats. These are
animal results, and they don’t tell us what happens in a person.
The computer models. A 2021 paper in BMC
Microbiology (Qiu and colleagues) ran reishi’s known compounds
through databases to predict which body systems they might touch. It
flagged dozens of triterpenes and sterols and suggested links to
inflammation signaling and serotonin pathways. That paper ran no
experiments of its own. It’s a map of where to look next, not proof.
Here’s a detail that matters if you buy reishi. Most reishi labels
lead with beta-glucans, the polysaccharides that get talked about for
immune support. This trial standardized for triterpenes instead. If
sleep is your interest, that’s the number to look for on the label.
What the study can’t tell us
yet
I want to be straight about this part, because it’s where a lot of
coverage gets thin.
- It’s a conference abstract, not a published paper.
The full study hasn’t come out yet, so the methods and data haven’t been
laid out for other scientists to check. - It comes from one medical practice. The abstract
lists a single author at one Brooklyn practice and doesn’t say whether
more than one site took part. One group’s results need to be repeated by
others. - There was no placebo group. Both groups got
something. Without a group taking a dummy pill, we can’t tell how much
of either group’s improvement came from the supplement itself versus
being in a study, paying closer attention to sleep, and expecting to
feel better. - We don’t know if it was blinded. The abstract
doesn’t say whether participants or researchers knew who was taking
what. If people knew they were on the “new” mushroom, expectations could
have played a part. - We don’t know who paid for it. The abstract doesn’t
state funding or who supplied the reishi extract. - Only one measure is reported. The ISI is a
self-report questionnaire. The abstract doesn’t report sleep diaries,
wearable data, or sleep lab results, and it doesn’t give people’s
starting scores. - Eight weeks is short. We don’t know how reishi does
over months, or what happens when people stop. - We don’t know what was in the capsule. The abstract
doesn’t say whether the extract came from fruiting bodies or mycelium,
or how it was extracted. For anyone trying to match the study, that’s a
big missing piece. - Safety data is thin. “No serious adverse events” is
good to hear, but it’s the only safety detail given.
None of this means the finding is wrong. It means it’s early. I’d
call it a promising first result that needs a full paper, a placebo
group, and a second team to repeat it.
What else is out there
This trial isn’t happening in a vacuum.
A January 2026 trial in Brain and Behavior tested a
five-mushroom blend called Restake (lion’s mane, cordyceps, reishi,
shiitake, and maitake) in about 50 adults with moderate to severe stress
and fatigue. Over 12 weeks, sleep quality scores (the PSQI) improved by
about 11% in the blend group versus about 1% on placebo. That one was
randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled, which is good. Two
caveats: the company that makes the blend funded the study and supplied
the capsules, and because it’s a blend, there’s no way to credit reishi
alone.
Shoppers are already moving. SPINS sales data reported by
NutraIngredients in October found reishi sales in sleep and calm or mood
supplements rose 53.7% to $12.3 million over the 52 weeks ending October
4, 2026. Melatonin sales in those same categories slipped 2.7%, to
$769.7 million. So reishi is growing fast, but melatonin still outsells
it by more than 60 to 1.
More on reishi: Reishi Mushroom
Benefits and Mushrooms for
Anxiety.
How to think about trying it
If this study has you curious, here’s how I’d approach it.
Talk to your doctor first if you take sleep
medication. Please don’t swap out or stop a prescribed sleep
medication on the strength of one study. Check with your doctor before
you change anything, and do the same if you take other medications or
have a health condition.
Read the label like a grower. Look for reishi made
from the fruiting body, the actual mushroom, rather than mycelium grown
on grain. A dual extract (hot water plus alcohol) pulls out both the
polysaccharides and the triterpenes. A label that states triterpene
content gets you closer to what this trial used, and third-party test
results (a certificate of analysis) tell you the numbers on the label
are real.
Give it a fair, honest test. The trial measured
results at eight weeks. If you try reishi, keep a simple sleep log for a
few weeks: when you went to bed, roughly how long it took to fall
asleep, how many times you woke, and how you felt the next day. That
beats guessing.
Keep the basics in place. No supplement makes up for
a bright phone at midnight or coffee at 4 p.m. Reishi, if it helps,
works best on top of decent sleep habits, not instead of them.
Products I’d look at
- Real
Mushrooms Organic Reishi Capsules: 100% fruiting body, dual
extracted, with triterpenes and beta-glucans verified per batch. It
lists triterpenes above 4%, a little under the 6% extract used in the
trial.
The bottom line
One well-sized trial found that a triterpene-standardized reishi
extract eased insomnia more than melatonin over eight weeks. That’s a
genuinely interesting result for a mushroom many of us already keep
around. But it’s a single conference abstract with no placebo group and
missing details on blinding, funding, and where the extract came from.
I’ll be watching for the full paper, and I’ll update this post when it
lands.
Sources
- SLEEP 2026 Late-Breaking Abstracts, LBA 1422: Xie C. “Can’t Sleep?
Take Some Shrooms: Comparing Reishi Mushroom Versus Melatonin for
Chronic Insomnia.”
https://www.sleepmeeting.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/SLEEP-2026-Late-Breaking-Abstracts.pdf - Jennings S. “Reishi Mushroom Extract Outperformed Melatonin for
Chronic Insomnia in New Study.” Patient Care Online, June 17, 2026.
https://www.patientcareonline.com/view/reishi-mushroom-extract-outperformed-melatonin-for-chronic-insomnia-in-new-study - Chu QP, et al. “Extract of Ganoderma lucidum potentiates
pentobarbital-induced sleep via a GABAergic mechanism.” Pharmacology
Biochemistry and Behavior, 2007;86(4):693-698. PubMed 17383716. - Qiu Y, et al. “Exploration of the anti-insomnia mechanism of
Ganoderma by central-peripheral multi-level interaction network
analysis.” BMC Microbiology, 2021;21:296.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8555286/ - Hisamuddin AS, et al. “Adaptogenic Effects of Mushroom Blend
Supplementation on Stress, Fatigue, and Sleep: A Randomised,
Double-Blind, and Placebo-Controlled Trial.” Brain and Behavior,
2026;16(1):e71193.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12808922/ - “SPINS Snapshot: Sleep supplements moving beyond melatonin.”
NutraIngredients, October 27, 2026.
https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2026/10/27/sleep-supplements-moving-beyond-melatonin/
This article is for general information and isn’t medical
advice.