I have two go-to resources I go to when I decide to experiment with a new health or fitness regimen. Now that Andrew Huberman, Ph.D. has hundreds of podcasts and articles published I will normally seek out his opinion first. Then I cross reference it with Joel Greene’s book The Immunity Code: The New Paradigm for Immune Centric Health and Radical Anti-Aging. Between the two I can normally come up with a starting place to do my deeper research. Here are the 3 helpful things you will get from this article:
- A sleep supplement comparison table you can sort by ingredient
- My personal sleep supplement experiment experience
- Andrew Huberman’s specific sleep supplement protocol and with a link to his recommended sleep supplement stack
In this case, in trying to fine-tune my sleep routine, I started with Huberman’s popular post “Toolkit for Sleep”. The excerpt below is the list of sleep supplements from Huberman’s Toolkit For Sleep.
You might consider taking (30-60 min before bed)
- 145mg Magnesium Threonate or 200mg Magnesium Bisglycinate
- 50mg Apigenin
- 100-400mg Theanine
- (3-4 nights per week I also take 2g of Glycine and 100mg GABA.)
I would start with one supplement (or none!) and then add one at a time as needed. Some people do not need any supplements, and some people like theanine but not magnesium, etc. so you have to determine what is best for you.
Andrew Huberman, Ph.D.
I then cross-referenced it with Joel Greene’s book The Immunity Code: The New Paradigm for Immune Centric Health and Radical Anti-Aging. His primary evening pre-bed module includes, Melatonin, vitamin D, rutin, and pterostilbene. He also mentions adding GABA to promote deep sleep.
For individuals who particularly struggle with getting restful sleep, oleamide and GABA can be added to the list of molecules outlined in the “evening pre-bed” module to further promote deep sleep.
Layer Origin Blog
So now we have a list of supplements that is getting extremely long. In a perfect world, I would be able to find a single cocktail with everything on the list, but with the length of that list, I knew that wouldn’t be possible.
- Magnesium Threonate or Magnesium Bisglycinate
- Apigenin
- Theanine
- Glycine
- GABA
- Melatonin
- Vitamin D
- Rutin
- Pterostilbene
I had been accumulating a list of sleep supplement formulas that I considered credible (heard about them through sources that do their homework (Ben Greenfield, Alex Hormozi, Dr. Berg, Tim Ferriss) and reviewed that to see which ones had one or more of these ingredients from the above list in the formulation. The bad news is that I will likely have to take more than one supplement. The good news is that it forced me to create this table of supplements that may help you find the perfect sleep supplement stack for your needs.
In general, a combination of Melatonin, GABA, Apigenin (found in Chamomile), L-Theanine, Magnesium, and Valerian Root tend to be mixed into these “all in one” sleep supplements. We will concentrate on those ingredients in the sleep supplement comparison table below.
Sortable Sleep Supplement Comparison Table
| Product | Link | L-Theanine | Gaba | L-Tryptophan | Valerian Root | Melatonin | Magnesium | Apigenin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kion Sleep | Check Price | 200 | 100 | 1000 | ||||
| Protekt Rest | Check Price | 200 | 200 | 45 | ||||
| Kion Sleep Powder | Check Price | 200 | 100 | 1000 | ||||
| Dr. Berg Sleep Aid | Check Price | 100 | 25 | 100 | 8 | |||
| Prestige Labs Sleep Multiplier | Check Price | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| Calm for Kids | Check Price | 50 | 175 | |||||
| Momentous Elite Sleep |
Protekt Rest Formula
I first heard about Protekt Rest Formula when listening to a recent Tim Ferriss Podcast. They appear to be a paid endorsement, but he did speak about his use of the product and it was very positive. I give Ferriss the benefit of the doubt since he normally does not endorse anything that he genuinely doesn’t use or recommend to friends. The ingredient list has the familiar sleep supplement ingredients of L-Theanine, GABA, and Valerian Root. It is taken in powder form and mixed into water.
Prestige Labs Sleep Multiplier
I heard about the Prestige Labs Sleep Multiplier product first in Alex Hormozi’s YouTube video “I will never lose sleep again after learning this..”. He talks about it at the 16:22 mark of the video. Alex Hormozi’s first successful business was in the fitness and gym industry and he is,in general, an in shape and productive business guy. I consume a lot of his content and also give him the benefit of the doubt if he recommends something.
It claims to promote better sleep by enhancing the body’s natural sleep cycle and improving the quality of sleep. The product contains a blend of natural ingredients, including melatonin, GABA, L-theanine, and valerian root. It is said to be free of harmful additives and to have no side effects. The recommended dosage is two capsules, taken 30 minutes before bedtime.
I asked their customer service chatbot “Do you have a breakout of how much of each ingredient is in the Knockout Fast Blend and Sleep Multiplier blend?”. A real person answered via email but they have not been willing to share the specific break down of the formula into its component parts. If I hear back from them I will update the comparison table.
Dr. Berg Sleep Aid
Dr. Berg shows up in my YouTube feed often and he normally has informative and well researched information. With that influence I am not suprised to see him enter the supplements market. Dr. Berg Sleep Aid is a dietary supplement marketed as a natural sleep aid. According to the product label, it contains a proprietary blend of ingredients that includes magnesium, L-theanine, valerian root extract, GABA, passionflower extract, and chamomile flower extract. The product is intended to promote relaxation, calmness, and a restful night’s sleep.
Some of the ingredients in Dr. Berg Sleep Aid have been studied for their potential sleep-promoting effects, the overall effectiveness and safety of this product have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Kion Honey Lavender Sleep Powder
Although Ben Greenfield is a partial owner of Kion, I generally think they do a sincere and thorough job of developing products and sourcing the ingredients. They have a powder product (picture below) and a similar formulation in pill form.
Kion Honey Lavender Sleep Powder is a sleep aid supplement that claims to help users fall asleep faster and improve the quality of their sleep. The supplement contains a blend of natural ingredients, including honey, lavender, chamomile, and melatonin. The recommended dosage is one scoop, mixed with hot water, taken 30 minutes before bedtime.
My Experiment With Sleep Supplements
I intend to work my way through each of the sleep supplements in the comparison table. But, in the meantime, I had a cabinet full of individual supplements and even an “all in one” compound similar to those on the table (I think we bought it from CVS when we were on vacation).
Here are the items I had on hand
- Magnesium Threonate
- Apigenin (In the CVS sleep supplement in the form of Chamomile)
- Theanine (In the CVS sleep supplement)
- GABA (In the CVS sleep supplement)
- Vitamin D
- Rutin
- Pterostilbene
I already take a vitamin D supplement during the day or with dinner (around 6 p.m.), but I did take another 5,0000 mg dose before bed. I try not to take Melatonin unless I have a sleep issue (which is rare these days) or I switch time zones. I always have it on hand but didn’t put it in this night’s sleep stack of supplements. I also take Magnesium regularly and just added a 1/3 dose (1 pill) of the Momentous Magnesium Threonate before bed. I don’t normally take Rutin and Pterostilbene but had it on hand from experimenting with it as part of Greene’s pre-bed module sleep hack.
I staggered all the supplements between 30 and 90 minutes before bed. I should also note I went to bed about 30 minutes before my normal bedtime (which normally helps my deep sleep) and did not turn on the television while in bed (we normally watch the local news from 10:00 to 10:30 p.m.
I measure my sleep using a Whoop band and an Oura ring. Here are the scores. Of course, this was one day and all my other non-supplement sleep routines were extremely good that day. I have only had the Whoop band for about 45 days and this was the highest recovery score I had ever received. I am also doing a comparison of the Whoop Band vs. Oura Ring and find their differences in sleep scores interesting. Whoop seems to give me consistently higher REM sleep scores and Oura deep sleep scores. But I will take either one of these. My goal is to always get 4 hours combined REM and deep sleep and I got over 5 on the devices on this day.
Troy Wallace
Troy Wallace is Certified Basketball Speed Specialist and shares his experiences in trying to stay as healthy as possible to stay on the court. He is active in coaching youth basketball in YMCA, Team Work Sports Nebraska, and, currently, in the Jr. Warriors program in Omaha, NE. Visit Troy's Full Author Bio Page or email him directly.
Meaningful conversations happening daily about training, recovery, and injury-specific rehabilitation as well as sport-specific discussions on playing, coaching and refereeing your favorite sport. We welcome experts and those with curious minds seeking answers.
Join The Stay On The Court Community!