Sleep Support

L-Theanine is an amino acid that people consume in green and black teas, as well as certain mushrooms. Its anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) effects are well studied, as are its abilities to help people sleep better without any negative effects on wakefulness during the day. By itself, our 200mg of L-theanine achieves a therapeutic dose for many people, but our formula goes further. Your chances of achieving better sleep improve because you benefit not only from L-theanine as an individual ingredient but also from its partnership with two other ingredients that studies show work synergistically with it — Lactium® and magnesium. Human studies show that our dose can:

• Increase sleep efficiency while decreasing sleep onset latency and wakefulness after sleep onset
• Reverse the sleep-disturbing effects of caffeine and help prevent neurodegenerative disorders  
• Improve sleep quality for those with ADHD in 6 weeks

Lactium® is a branded form of casein hydrolysate and has been studied in humans for its ability to relieve anxiety and promote healthy sleep. Though this decapeptide is derived from cow’s milk, the brand name somewhat misleadingly suggests a connection to lactose; only about 0.6% of Lactium is lactose, which means that a nightly dose of our sleep supplement delivers less than 2mg of lactose — less than what people commonly drink in a glass of lactose-free milk! Research indicates that our 300mg dose can provide benefits that actually build over time with sustained use. It can be effective for:

• Improving sleep quantity and quality in ways that hold promise for those with insomnia
• Reducing serum cortisol levels significantly enough to also improve skin health

Human studies demonstrate that lemon balm can provide adaptogenic effects while being safe even for very vulnerable populations. We stand out by providing lemon balm in a standardized, branded form that showed positive results in studies for sleep at our dosage. That’s important; the strength and phytochemical attributes of lemon balm extracts vary widely, and unbranded forms likely don’t possess the same strength of important compounds that yield safe, effective improvements in sleep and mood. Across the landscape of competitors, you’ll find wildly different quantities and strengths of unbranded and branded botanical ingredients like lemon balm. We adhere to the results of clear scientific research by choosing 400mg of Relissa® lemon balm, which can effectively:

• Reduce emotional distress and combat poor sleep
• Improve sleep while promoting daytime calm and mental focus

Like lemon balm, Apocynum venetum (or rafuma) has a long history of medicinal use. In recent decades, a branded extract called Venetron® has been used in supplements and has been subjected to six clinical trials. Our 50mg is the standard dose that has been shown in studies to:

• Improve sleep quality and reduce stress in otherwise healthy adults
• Shorten the onset time for sleep and help maintain sleep
• Significantly increase deep non-REM sleep

Saffron has been studied extensively, and the best human studies (cumulatively involving hundreds of participants) all point to a few conclusions: it can safely reduce anxiety, promote better sleep quality, and make you feel better when you wake up. Dosing is very important in terms of both the quantity and the quality of an extract. Our 30mg of an extract standardized to contain 2% safranal aligns us with clinical trials that show it can:

• Reduce insomnia symptoms by 26%, improve sleep quality scores by 22%, and elevate mood upon awakening by 15%
• Significantly reduce anxiety and sleep disturbances

You may be surprised to learn that, by some estimates, roughly half of Americans don’t consume enough magnesium. Certain groups are at higher risk than others, but insufficiency can carry major health ramifications — among them, poor sleep. The connection between magnesium and sleep is strong, with research showing that magnesium supplementation positively affects nocturnal hormone secretion and the amount of slow-wave sleep, potentially reversing age-related changes. The 728mg of magnesium glycinate in Sleep Support delivers 127mg of elemental magnesium. Thanks to the glycinate form, this also won’t cause any laxative effect, and the added glycine from it can only further help sleep. Our dose of magnesium positions us comfortably in the midst of supportive human studies that show magnesium can:

• Improve sleep quality
• Reduce restless leg syndrome and associated sleep disturbance

Zinc plays a vital role in our central nervous systems’ ability to regulate our sleep patterns. But you may wonder, why copper? There is some evidence that zinc and copper, together, contribute to longer sleep in males, but the primary reason we include copper in our formula is to safeguard against depletion that can be caused by zinc supplementation. Supplemental zinc in this quantity — perhaps especially alongside astaxanthin — has been shown to:

• Improve sleep efficiency in healthy people
• Increase sleep quality in adults and nonadults

Astaxanthin is a carotenoid (antioxidant pigment) found in foods like salmon and shrimp, but Americans don’t consume enough of these carotenoids to avoid the risk of suboptimal sleep duration that results from the deficiency. Researchers have studied the sleep-enhancing effects of taking zinc and astaxanthin together, but studies also show that astaxanthin, by itself, has the ability to:

• Improve sleep duration among people with depression at our 12mg daily dose
• Cross the blood-brain barrier to impart neuroprotective properties

Like astaxanthin, lycopene is a carotenoid that we can obtain through foods we eat — in this case, foods like tomato and watermelon. And unfortunately, like astaxanthin, we tend not to consume enough of it. Studies suggest that lycopene:

• Affects sleep duration such that decreased lycopene shortens sleep
• Helps achieve optimal sleep duration alongside other carotenoids
• Helps combat insomnia

As many as one-third of Americans are deficient in vitamin D, and this deficiency can have repercussions for our health, including when it comes to getting proper sleep. Unlike the vast majority of sleep aid formulas, we include vitamin D, and our 1,500IU dose is meaningful enough to address common dietary deficiencies without posing a risk of oversupplementation. Meta-analyses of research studies show that:

• Low vitamin D levels are a risk factor for poor sleep
• Vitamin D supplementation significantly improves sleep quality

By including vitamin B6, we help you defend against another deficiency that can cause sleep disorders and likely affects one in ten Americans. We chose P5P (pyridoxal 5′-phosphate) because it’s the most bioavailable form of vitamin B6. Its inclusion here means that at the core of this sleep supplement, you find a version of a ZMA supplement — combining zinc, magnesium, and B6 — to aid in muscle recovery. One major difference between ours and a traditional ZMA, of course, is that we opt for magnesium glycinate rather than aspartate to improve the absorption of magnesium and to further promote sleep with the introduction of glycine. Studies show that:

• Vitamin B6 promotes dream recall
• Low vitamin B6 levels are associated with daytime sleepiness, particularly in males

Found in certain foods like cheeses and natto (fermented soybeans), vitamin K2 is sometimes called the multitasking vitamin. Unlike vitamin K, it has no specific dietary intake recommendations at this time, yet research indicates that menaquinone-7, a uniquely bioavailable form of vitamin K, has powerful protective and restorative capabilities spanning bone, nerve, muscular, cardiovascular, and cognitive health. Studies show that vitamin K2 can:

• Significantly and safely reduce nocturnal leg cramps
• Curb muscle cramps and inflammation while defending against chronic degenerative conditions