Chamomile has been used medicinally across Europe and the Mediterranean since antiquity. Ancient Egyptians dedicated the herb to their sun god Ra, using it in embalming and religious ceremonies as well as medicine, while ancient Greek and Roman physicians documented its use for digestive complaints and as a calming agent.
The name "chamomile" derives from the Greek "khamaimelon," meaning "ground apple," a reference to the flower's distinctive apple-like scent when crushed. It became one of the most enduring household remedies in European folk medicine specifically for sleep and settling infants and children, a tradition that persists essentially unchanged in the modern ritual of a cup of chamomile tea before bed.
Chamomile has a reasonably solid modern evidence base specifically for sleep quality and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). A systematic review and meta-analysis of 12 randomized controlled trials found chamomile produced a significant improvement in sleep quality, and separately found significant improvement in GAD symptoms (measured by the Hamilton Anxiety scale) after both 2 and 4 weeks of treatment.
The honest nuance: when the same meta-analysis looked specifically at general "state anxiety" (as opposed to diagnosed GAD) across a smaller subset of 3 trials, it found no significant difference from placebo, and the single trial that specifically measured insomnia severity (as opposed to broader sleep quality) also found no significant change. In short, chamomile has real support for sleep quality and clinically diagnosed anxiety specifically, but the evidence doesn't stretch as broadly to "anxiety in general" or clinical insomnia as marketing often implies.
Dried flowers steeped as tea, the most common and enduring preparation, or used in topical compresses and infused oils for skin.