Our nootropics and nutritionalist James Dixon examines the best natural sleep aids to help you get a great night’s sleep. Find out what he uncovered below…
It’s important to prioritize good sleeping habits. Maintain a healthy lifestyle, dim your lights for a little while before bed, make sure your bed is comfortable, keep your stress and anxiety levels down, and so one.
Also consider using natural remedies, such as melatonin, magnesium, and valerian root. They may do a lot to improve your overall sleep quality. This is incredibly important – adequate sleep quality and quantity is crucial for proper body and brain function, including improved learning, memory, decision-making, and creativity.
Meanwhile, insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality have been linked to increased risk of plenty of health concerns, including but far from limited to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
Nevertheless, many of us don’t get enough sleep. Some of us experience occasional or even chronic insomnia. Natural sleep-promoting supplements may provide additional support for those who need it. Luckily, we’ve got a whole list of them ready and waiting for you.
Supplements for improved sleep
Over-the-counter sleep aids are supplements that can help you to fall asleep more quickly and then remain asleep until morning. These aids are often plant-based, contain vitamins or minerals found in our diets, or provide supplementary volumes of substances produced by the body.
Plenty of people would rather turn to natural sleep aids due to their lower incidence of side effects compared to prescribed drugs and medications. Users may also worry about harder medical sleep aids’ potentially addictive nature.
However, it is important to note that supplements’ efficacy and indeed safety are not closely supervised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), so consumers should be extra careful in ensuring that they are going for trustworthy products.
Additionally, the term ‘natural’ is not strictly regulated for supplements, as some natural supplements, like melatonin, may be derived synthetically. This isn’t too much of an issue in reality – it is still natural for us to take these compounds. Just be aware that the name may be slightly misleading.
In general, though, these are products that can improve your ability to sleep and the quality of sleep you receive, with all-in-all quite robust clinical data backing them up.
Quick Verdict: Performance Lab Sleep
Performance Lab Sleep uses all-natural ingredients and is one of the most effective all-in-one sleep aids we have tested.
With magnesium, L-tryptophan, and melatonin sourced from tart cherry it is one of the most effective, natural supplements for ensuring you get a positive night’s sleep. Combine it with the tips we’ve mentioned and you will be well set up for a great night’s sleep.
The best natural products for better sleep
There is a potentially dizzying array of supplements out there that can help your sleep quality one way or another. However, some are better than others. To me, the following are amongst the most useful natural compounds going, most with clinically proven benefits.
Melatonin
Melatonin is a hormone created in the pineal gland in the brain. It helps to regulate sleep, working in part by organizing our circadian rhythms, which control our sleep-wake cycles. Melatonin production can be suppressed by various factors, including night time light exposure, aging, and certain diseases and medical concerns.
To address sleep disturbances caused by low levels of melatonin, some people take melatonin supplements in pill format. It is very popular, in fact – melatonin is the United States’ fourth favorite adult-centred natural supplement.
Melatonin is primarily recommended for individuals with disorders of the circadian rhythm such as delayed sleep-wake phase disorder. It may also be used for certain sleep disorders for minors. Whil