Bedtime Kratom Use Linked to Modest Sleep Improvements, Especially for Chronic Pain Patients

Why it matters

Sleep disturbance is one of the most common complaints among chronic pain patients, and millions of Americans report using kratom at bedtime. This is the first naturalistic study to quantify the relationship between bedtime kratom use and sleep outcomes—findings clinicians and patients will encounter increasingly.

The big picture

Kratom is self-reported as a sleep aid by a significant portion of its approximately 10 million U.S. users, yet no empirical data had confirmed whether bedtime use actually improves sleep. This NIDA-funded ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study followed 357 regular kratom users over 15 days, capturing daily real-world behavior. The study was conducted by researchers from Arizona State University, Johns Hopkins University, Baylor College of Medicine, and NIDA.

Key findings

• Bedtime kratom use occurred on 23.4% of days tracked in a 15-day EMA study of 357 U.S. adults who regularly use kratom
• Bedtime use was significantly associated with modestly longer sleep duration (average 13 minutes more) and better sleep quality (5.93-point improvement on a 0–100 scale)
• Women reported greater improvements in sleep quality than men following bedtime kratom use
• Participants with chronic pain—about 49% of the sample—showed greater benefits in both sleep duration and quality than those without chronic pain
• Authors caution that observational design cannot establish causality; controlled laboratory studies with polysomnography are needed

What they say

The researchers concluded: "Bedtime kratom use is associated with modest sleep duration and quality improvements, particularly in adults with chronic pain... These findings among experienced kratom consumers suggest the need for human laboratory studies in kratom-naïve participants to determine causality and underlying mechanisms, which could help inform clinical guidance and policy as kratom use continues to rise."

Bottom line

The first real-world study of kratom and sleep found modest but statistically significant improvements in sleep duration and quality after bedtime use, with the largest benefits seen in women and people with chronic pain—though the observational design cannot prove causation.