Best Natural Sleep aids

[phuture]

I quit smoking weed and drinking about a month ago. As expected, my workouts and diet have benefitted.

My problem though is difficulty in sleeping. I take 5htp and Melatonin before bed, as well as incorporate meditation and breathing techniques. These help to an extent, but I still wake up way too early.

This is very frustrating as I know I am limiting my gains.

Any suggestions?

[_NimbusTim_]

Nimbus Nutrition ABYSS!
Reviews can be found here:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...ighlight=abyss

Fusion Shut Eye gets good reviews as well.

Congrats on quitting drinking and smoking!

[Scarekrow]

I've used Controlled Labs PM Reduction samples I've collected and they definetly helped. I'd say get a sample next time you order from here and see if it works for you, I'll probably be getting a bottle shortly.

[_NimbusTim_]

I've used Controlled Labs PM Reduction samples I've collected and they definetly helped. I'd say get a sample next time you order from here and see if it works for you, I'll probably be getting a bottle shortly.

Heard good things about this as well!

[dvsness]

How many hours are you currently getting?

I typically use Prolab REM when I can't sleep. Melatonin, Valerian and BCAAs for under 10 bucks. It's not wise to take sleep aids chronically, though. Good idea to try meditation. You may also want to see if you can make yourself more comfortable in bed or add some kind of white noise if that helps.

[dexterford]

Bulk 1-carboxy easy.

[_NimbusTim_]

How many hours are you currently getting?

I typically use Prolab REM when I can't sleep. Melatonin, Valerian and BCAAs for under 10 bucks. It's not wise to take sleep aids chronically, though. Good idea to try meditation. You may also want to see if you can make yourself more comfortable in bed or add some kind of white noise if that helps.

Zach (Cyde) takes a certain type of tea pre-bed as well and he swears it helps a lot.
I agree though, sleep aids definitely are not a fix for sleep problems. It's best to find the root of the problem and try to fix that. That could be anything from diet, other supplements, lifestyle, etc.

[phuture]

Thanks for all the info.

Do you guys think that working out at night may contribute to the problem?

Here's my typical day:

work 11-7, AA meetings till 9, gym till 11, sleep around 2

I love this schedule, but I've been waking around 6-7 (ie, 5 hrs sleep) then laying in bed till 10 trying to relax and sleeping just a bit.

[phuture]

when I was smoking and drinking I would get 8-10 hrs of solid sleep every night.

[TMac26]

Straight Melatonin.....buy like the 10 mg size and im out like a light in no time

[pilly420]

ZMA always puts me in a deep sleep. cheap enough too

[YoungEx20]

I've heard great things about ZMA

[youngkang]

From all the sleeping supplements i took. I really liked fusion shut eye or muscle pharms bullet proof. Both top notch products, but bulletproof is really hard to get since its really popular right now.

[wolfgangd83]

Hands down the best stuff I've ever used - and as a chronic insomniac I have used a lot.

My sister has been sending me Dreamquick from Europe for a while and that has worked very well for me. It took a few days for it to fully kick in but my sleep has improved substantially since then. I ran out a few weeks ago and immediately noticed a big difference in the quality of my sleep. I found they're also on Amazon.com now but not sure it's the same product because it looks different (see photo of my version).

[showjo1josh]

ZMA and melatonin would be a nice cheap sleep aid that works.

[wolfgangd83]

ZMA and melatonin would be a nice cheap sleep aid that works.

ZMA has not worked AT ALL for me. People on here have been talking about it on various occasions but I really noticed no benefit at all, even at 4 x the recommended dose.

[MyriaK]

I've had dual sleep issues most of my life, it probably doesn't help that because of that sleep and I have a somewhat adversarial relationship.

The first half of my sleep issue is that I have a very hard time falling asleep, it often taking me a half hour or longer (often substantially longer) just to fall asleep. The second half is that I frequently wake up, as many as six or eight times on a bad night (four is probably average), and often have a very hard time falling back to sleep one or more of those times.

While I do try and control "lifestyle" elements -- no caffeine after five, a reasonably consistent sleep schedule, and such, it seems to make little to no difference. What does help is nightly Melatonin -- 5 - 10mg taken sublingually twenty minutes to a half hour before bed -- and a Chamomile/Valerian "Sleepytime" tea before bed. That combination generally helps me be able to get to sleep within a more reasonable time frame once I've laid down.

I've recently started taking PEScience's ZMA and I'm finding that I'm waking up a lot less frequently. Or, at least, I'm not remembering waking up as frequently. My sleep tracker (I have a Hello Sense) would seem to confirm that I'm not, but honestly it's somewhat iffy about detecting such things. Either way, it seems that ZMA is either helping me not to wake up as frequently, or I'm falling back to sleep so quickly when I do wake up that I don't have any recollection of it.

FWIW, YMMV, and all that. Good luck finding something that works for you, sleep issues can be a real bugger to deal with.

Sleep is a design flaw.

[wolfgangd83]

I'm reallyyyy jealous towards anyone who has success with ZMA. It's cheap and easy. Until I'll find something else I'll stick to Dreamquick which seems to be the only that works for me

[kissdadookie]

Blackstone Lab's Growth works phenomenally. If you need something stronger, they also have Anesthetized which is POTENT. Some in between Growth and Anesthetized would be Warrior's Trance from Centurion Labz.