My Reviews of Sleep aid supplements

[RabidWolfe]

been lurking for awhile, trying to get the feel of the board. Figured this would be a safe first post.

Anyway, since I have trouble sleeping, but don't want to use prescription medicines, I've used nearly all the various sleep aid supplements on the market. For me (focusing on ingredients, rather than brands here), this is what works and what doesn't:


Melatonin:
Doesn't help me sleep any better, but it does give me more vivid dreams. Extremely vivid dreams, actually. When I was using this, I often found it took an hour or two after waking up before I could figure out that my dreams last night never really happened. However, that is at a 2 - 3 mg dose. At a 1 mg dose I don't notice much difference. The only reason I still take it is because it's part of Alacer's CMA (the name was recently changed to "Emergen-C Sleep Aid", probably for branding reasons and likely because the name CMA was too close to ZMA) formulation, and I otherwise love Alacer's products.

Valerian:
Awful stuff. I wake up groggy, unable to think. Clouds my brain like you wouldn't believe. I don't drink, but if I had to hazard a guess, when I take even small doses of this stuff, I figure this is what a major hangover would feel like.

Kava Kava:
Makes me unable to sleep, since it gives me a killer headache.

5-HTP:
Decent. I sleep *a little* better. Whereas I usually wake up 10 times a night, with this I might only wake up 7 or 8 times a night. Not much, but I'll take what I can get. I haven't noticed any mood-enhancing or appetite suppressing effects, despite claims on the labels of several products.

I see that Tryptophan is back on the market, but it looks very expensive, so I haven't tried that yet.

GABA:
The best stuff - in powder form. In pill form, this does nothing for me. In powder form, a 6-7 gram dose does wonders. It's billed as a Growth Hormone enhancer - but I have noticed no Growth Hormone enhancing or fat loss effects.

The one drawback to GABA is the side effect of shortness of breath and tingling of the skin. When I first tried this in powder form, it freaked me out - I was sure I was going to faint. Now that I expect it, it has actually become a signal for the best time for me to be in bed, trying to fall asleep. When the shortness of breath kicks in, if I stay up too much longer, I won't fall asleep as easily.

Other:
A lot of the other herbal supplements (Passionflower, Hops, Chamomille, etc.) have been useless for me.

So, right now, I take 1 mg of Melatonin (as part of Alacer's Sleep Aid Nighttime Vitamin C), 50 mg 5-HTP and 6 grams GABA. I still can't sleep through the night, but I wake up a lot less often, and when I am asleep, I sleep a lot deeper.

Of course, now that I have a 1 week old kid in the house, that may change.

I would also like some help in locating other possible supplements I could try.

[RU4A69]

Try theanine. It does the same thing as GABA, without the cloudiness.

I can't take it regularly because I stop caring about my responsibilities. If I took enough of it I'd prolly punch a cop if he looked at me funny.

[RabidWolfe]

Well, I don't get any cloudiness from GABA, just some brief shortness of breath. Valerian, however, does cloud my mind way too much.

However, I will look into theanine.

[SavageOne]

Good reviews! I've tried many of the same things and, for the most part, agree with your reviews. Valerian Root smells really bad and does make me groggy the next day. Melatonin does the same thing, to a smaller extent. I'll look into some of the others that you liked, I've just accepted the grogginess the next day as par for the course so I'd like to see a change.

[Barry Bonds]

does it for me. Works way better than ******.

[Mickfootie]

GABA:
The best stuff - in powder form. In pill form, this does nothing for me. In powder form, a 6-7 gram dose does wonders. It's billed as a Growth Hormone enhancer - but I have noticed no Growth Hormone enhancing or fat loss effects.

The one drawback to GABA is the side effect of shortness of breath and tingling of the skin. When I first tried this in powder form, it freaked me out - I was sure I was going to faint. Now that I expect it, it has actually become a signal for the best time for me to be in bed, trying to fall asleep. When the shortness of breath kicks in, if I stay up too much longer, I won't fall asleep as easily.

I agree with you on the GABA it is great taken 20-30 mins before bed.
I take 3-5 gms a night and yep as soon as i start tingling i go to bed shortly after for a great nights sleep.

[Stomp]

I would add REM R3G and Phenibut to the list. Both work extremely well when used occasionally. At the moment I have a bottle of Primaforce Phenibut and it seems to work better than bulk phenibut.

[joey joe joe]

I have trouble sleeping through the night as well. Is GABA common in health food shops? How much does it normally sell for?

[Mickfootie]

I have trouble sleeping through the night as well. Is GABA common in health food shops? How much does it normally sell for?

Take a look on bb.com. I got the 300g Higher Power GABA powder for $16.95
and at 3-5 gms per serving it lasts between 60 and 100 days.

[grapemaster]

Try theanine. It does the same thing as GABA, without the cloudiness.

I can't take it regularly because I stop caring about my responsibilities. If I took enough of it I'd prolly punch a cop if he looked at me funny.

weird, i get the same effect... its not lazy... its just an oh well **** it attitude on l-theanine. it does make me pretty calm but i get nothing done.

to the other poster could melatonin and/or zma be habit forming? I think one of my big problems these days is lack of quality sleep... But the few times I can sleep through the night I feel much better waking up. Usually I feel dead and tired as **** in the morning and takes me a few hours to wake up.

[SI03 Board Rep]

Good review, Nice!!!

[RabidWolfe]

to the other poster could melatonin and/or zma be habit forming? I think one of my big problems these days is lack of quality sleep... But the few times I can sleep through the night I feel much better waking up. Usually I feel dead and tired as **** in the morning and takes me a few hours to wake up.

I've never taken ZMA.

CMA from Alacer (now called Sleep Aid) has some Melatonin in it. I can say I haven't found Melatonin, 5-HTP or GABA to be habit forming, since I do cycle them occasionally, and have never had any problems thatawise.

So, I don't think Melatonin is habit forming. I've heard/read that Valerian can be, but I've never used it long enough to find out, since I can't stand being so groggy and cloudy in the mornings.

[SavageOne]

I just remembered this, I read in a magazine a little while ago, I think it was Men's Fitness, that Melatonin doesn't provide the deeper, restorative sleep. The study said that Valerian Root did however. Just interesting to note.

[Latosaurus Rex]

gotta love those melatonin dreams, although i dont take it unless i need to, i wake up groggy and this hurts me as i usually work out 1-2 hours after waking

[EG1989]

Dormanex actually works and it is like listerine breath strips.

www.dormanexsleepaid.com

[mada071]

What about Lean Dreams, anyone get any negative feedback on that?

[FATazreal]

i like melatonin i take a minimum of 10 mg a night, and on my days off 15mg, i get no hangover effects, no issues just good restful sleep. I used to wake up 6-10 times a night it sucked. I started at 3mg and worked up a tolerance over time i kept increasing the dose, now it has leveled off and i jsut take 10mg every night.

[Fundamentals]

I don't know about the other supplements, but I've had the best success with the sublingual form of melatonin..

Was wondering if anyone had any success with it?


I got a free 30-day supply from www.Best-SleepAid.com

Hope that helps

[SleepAids]

Nice article, Thanks for this useful info, I have dug and stumbled this article. I will keep visiting for more useful information. A friend recommended to have a look at the following Sleep Aids(www(dot)sleep-answer(dot)com) and I found them very useful. Keep up the good work.

[ISurfNudeBrah]

OP check out ****drol, you won't be dissapointed. Amazing sleep aid, and I just take 1/2 a normal dose and it works great for me. Lasts 2x as long this way.

Very deep sleep, often vivid dreams, waking up feeling refreshed!

[SavageOne]

OP check out ****drol, you won't be dissapointed. Amazing sleep aid, and I just take 1/2 a normal dose and it works great for me. Lasts 2x as long this way.

Very deep sleep, often vivid dreams, waking up feeling refreshed!

****drol has been great for me too. Probably best that I've tried to date.

[uforce]

OP, have you thought about having a sleep study for sleep apnea? I recently went for a consultation. the doc said it is very common among body builders. anyway, he feels i need the study. i'm scheduled to go later in may.

[coals]

5-HTP + zinc + magnesium (call it homemade zma or whatever) worked very well for me, works great and I wake up super refreshed and ready to go.

Melatonin just gives me a hung-over feeling in the morning.

[ISurfNudeBrah]

****drol has been great for me too. Probably best that I've tried to date.

Glad you're enjoyin it.

It gets awesome feedback from those who try it.

[James243]

Great review bro.

[sleepaidsreview]

Nice article, Thank you so much for this knowledgeable & useful information.

[dalkon]

OP, have you thought about having a sleep study for sleep apnea? I recently went for a consultation. the doc said it is very common among body builders. anyway, he feels i need the study. i'm scheduled to go later in may.

Op is from 2006

[gabriel9794]

I have buy those pills like forever end i havent have eny problems with them

[bitistathebeast]

AI Sports nutrition carries some stuff Called 3Z!
Known to be an effective sleep aid.

Feel free to PM me for sample.