Sleep is the most underrated performance lever there is — the one that makes the training, the focus and the mood all work. Before any supplement enters the picture, the basics decide it: dark, cool, consistent times, daylight in the morning, less screen and caffeine in the evening. No powder fixes bad sleep hygiene. But once the basics are handled, a few compounds have real evidence behind them.
Magnesium — the reliable base
Magnesium contributes to normal muscle and nerve function and helps the body wind down, and a lot of active people run low without knowing it, because training burns through it. The form is what separates a working supplement from a pointless one: bisglycinate (or glycinate) is well absorbed and gentle on the stomach, unlike the cheap oxide that mostly passes straight through you. Take it in the evening and expect a subtle easing-down, not a knockout. That's why our Magnesium 5x Complex is built on bisglycinate — the same logic the well-known sleep stacks rest on. Prefer chewing to swallowing capsules? The Magnesium + Zinc + B6 Gummies are the easy version of the same habit.
Melatonin — the sleep-onset signal
Melatonin isn't a sedative; it's the hormone that tells your body it's night. At a low dose — around 1 mg shortly before bed — it can meaningfully shorten the time it takes to fall asleep, an authorised and well-evidenced effect. The research trend is clear: less is more. The 5–10 mg megadoses on most shelves overshoot and can leave you groggy the next morning; micro-doses work better. It's most useful when your clock is off — jet lag, shift work, a rhythm that has drifted late. Our Melatonin keeps it to three things: melatonin, cellulose, plant capsule.
Ashwagandha — the stress lever
Often the missing piece, because for a lot of people the problem isn't sleep itself — it's the racing mind at 11pm. Ashwagandha is an adaptogen, and several studies point to lower stress and better sleep quality, likely by taking the edge off cortisol. For a plant extract the evidence is above average, though not the final word. Standardised extracts — a named, properly dosed extract — are the ones worth taking; see our Ashwagandha + B6 Gummies.
Glycine and L-theanine — the quiet insiders
Two cheap, well-tolerated options with early but promising evidence. Glycine (around 3 g before bed) may lower core body temperature slightly and improve how rested you feel the next day. L-theanine (the calming amino acid from green tea) takes the edge off mental chatter without sedating you, and it pairs well with magnesium. Neither is settled science, but both are low-risk experiments. We don't stock them yet; when we do, it'll be because we've tested them ourselves.
Overrated, or handle with care
High-dose melatonin (more is genuinely not better), and expensive sleep blends that hide under-dosed traces of ten ingredients behind a nice label. The fix is boring: a few things, properly dosed, taken consistently.
The honest advice
Basics first. Then test one or two compounds deliberately — never everything at once, or you'll never know what actually did the work. That's how you find your own combination. If you'd rather start with the whole evening routine in one box, the Night Stack is magnesium, melatonin and ashwagandha together.
Note: for persistent sleep problems, see a doctor — supplements are no substitute for diagnosis.
