Sleep Support

We've spent thousands of hours researching supplemental ingredients for sleep health and comparing products available on the market. In formulating our Sleep Support supplement, we followed the most compelling scientific research at this time in our attempt to protect you from investing in a supplement whose effectiveness is unpredictable. We don't think an investment in your health should be a gamble. Therefore, we rely on human studies and meta-analyses, not animal or in vitro studies.

We also exercise caution and regard promising ingredients with enough humility to use quantities that align with studies whose design clarifies effective dosage and strength. If that isn’t possible, we don’t consider the ingredient acceptable for inclusion. (Some botanical ingredients are evidently promising, yet their effective dosages and strengths remain less clear because the design of research may have relied on interventions like the steeping of teas.)

Ultimately, our formula is designed to contain ingredients that human research has shown to be effective and well-tolerated for promoting factors that contribute to healthy sleep and support physical and neurological recovery during sleep. A couple ingredients are also included to enhance the safety of supplementing with others. Together, the ingredients in our formula can support sleep in a comprehensive and sustainable way — helping you fall asleep faster, wake up less in the night, achieve restorative stages of sleep, optimize the duration of sleep, wake up feeling sharper and more refreshed, and guard against neurodegeneration over time. This isn't an unhealthy sleeping pill that you might use in acute, desperate scenarios, but a supplement you can take each day to optimize sleep quality and quantity.

Our customers typically begin to enjoy results on night one, within a couple hours after taking their first dose. This formula does not require that you use it for days in order to start experiencing relief from poor sleep— ingredients like L-theanine and magnesium may prove beneficial to sleep after a single dose.

However, our ingredients also reward daily use, and the full neuroprotective, restorative, and sleep-enhancing effects emerge over time as you continue with the nightly ritual 1-2 hours before bedtime. For instance, human research shows that supplementing with Lactium® is even more effective after four weeks of use than it is after two weeks, and several weeks of daily ashwagandha use also yields fuller benefits than what people typically experience after just a day or two.

What we chose to omit from our sleep supplement defines our product just as much as what we saw fit to include. Over the past decade, it's become increasingly common for Americans to supplement with the hormone melatonin — and in higher doses. Unfortunately, while melatonin can be effective as a short-term sleep aid, health experts seldom advise long-term use. Too little is understood about the effects of chronic melatonin supplementation in humans, but concerns arise from what appear to be risks in animal studies, such as a risk to proper learning and memory. (In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, melatonin is available only by prescription due to the potential adverse effects perceived with its overuse as well as concerns about the quality of supplements on the market.)

Oral melatonin supplements can cause short-term side effects like depression, irritability, confusion, and grogginess. Though there isn’t an apparent risk of dependency, melatonin has a naturally antagonistic relationship with another hormone that plays a fundamental role in mental and physical health: dopamine. Scientists acknowledge that melatonin, a hormone produced naturally by the pineal gland, has effects on other organs that are still not well understood.

If that weren’t enough reason to use it only occasionally, a recent survey of 110 melatonin supplements marketed for children found that they contained wildly different levels of melatonin than what the label indicated (up to 667% more).

A few more facts to add to this picture:

• Oral melatonin bioavailability is notoriously variable from person to person, but some estimates put it around 15%.
• Meanwhile, researchers have concluded that the human body naturally produces less than 0.3mg of melatonin per day, though the amount naturally produced is also variable!
• Many sleep aids offer melatonin in quantities of 3mg, 5mg, or more. Even in an amount of 3mg and with an assumed bioavailability of 15%, those supplements deliver more melatonin than a person’s body ever produced — though the amount in excess would be unclear.

We avoid melatonin because we think there are safer alternatives that support the body’s own healthy production of melatonin (such as magnesium).

We formulate Sleep Support with safety and effectiveness front and center, guided by human studies. For this reason, we exclude several common sleep-aid ingredients in order to help avoid grogginess, long-term risk to cognitive health, habituation, and quite a few potential drug interactions. For many people, this supplement will be safe to take alongside other supplements or medications. But no effective list of ingredients — including ours — will be appropriate for every interested person, and there's no replacement for a thorough discussion with your doctor. Ingredients in sleep supplements such as this may not be suitable for people with bipolar disorder, heart problems, liver problems, or other underlying health concerns, and some drug interactions are possible; as with any supplement, talk to your doctor before you begin. Only then can you be certain that it’s safe for you.

Indeed, we formulated our Sleep and Focus supplements to work harmoniously together, so that healthy adults could benefit from daytime and nighttime support for optimal performance, 24/7. The formulas complement each other in many ways. But as always, you must talk to your doctor before introducing any new supplement; it’s possible that one or both of these formulas would not be safe for you.

Should I cycle Sleep Support?

There is no need to cycle Sleep Support, and in fact, there are good reasons not to cycle it. The best reasons to take it nightly are:

• You benefit the most from ingredients that promote recovery and neuroprotection.
• You experience the most profound sleep restoration thanks to some ingredients whose effects build over time.

Our Sleep Support formula is intended for adults. A sleep formula for children would contain different amounts of key ingredients to align properly with available clinical research. Please only use as directed on the bottle.

We ship internationally to Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. These orders will ship DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) — meaning duties, fees, and taxes are collected at checkout — to ensure a smoother delivery experience for you, with no surprise charges upon arrival. (Learn more about our Shipping Policy).Innerbody Labs also ships to Army post offices.

Please note that international orders are all sales final, unless your order is missing or damaged. Please refer to our Refunds & Exchanges Policy.