The Sleep Supplement Helping People Transition Off Melatonin For Good
For Americans who have trouble sleeping, melatonin is a go-to sleep aid. Here in the U.S., it can be obtained as easily as a dietary supplement (in fact, arguably easier, given how widely available it's become, even in a candy gummy format). But did you know it's only available as a prescription in most other countries?
Elsewhere, melatonin is only to be taken under the guidance of a doctor. Given that it's a hormone that affects the sleep-wake cycle, cardiovascular function1, blood sugar2, immunity3, reproductive health, hormonal health, and more, requiring a doctor's signature makes sense. And as functional medicine physician Seema Bonney, M.D., previously told mbg, "Using any hormone regularly can downregulate your own production of that hormone."
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In other words, popping a melatonin supplement nightly can disrupt your body's natural production of this all-important hormone. In turn, it may prompt you to reach for the higher and higher doses of melatonin4 we are now seeing people take in the U.S.
Just last week, the CDC also sent out a warning call5 to parents who keep melatonin lying around the house: In 2021, U.S. poison control centers received over 52,000 calls about children consuming high amounts of the supplement, in some cases mistaking them for candy or vitamins. Considering that some of the supplements have been tested to contain up to 478% more melatonin than is listed on their labels, this trend is even more worrisome.
All of this has many health experts recommending non-melatonin supplements to those who could use a little extra help in the sleep department. Enter sleep support+.
How sleep support+ can help you sleep through the night — sans hormones
mindbodygreen formulated sleep support+ to do what melatonin claims to do (support good sleep) but without the hormones and also in a much more multidimensional way, with safe ingredients targeting falling asleep, staying asleep, and overall sleep quality.*
This supplement contains a combination of magnesium (an essential mineral that the body needs to function), jujube seed extract (a fruit used in traditional Chinese medicine), and PharmaGABA® (a natural form of an amino acid neurotransmitter, created through fermentation). Each of these nonhormonal ingredients is research-backed and shown to help people fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer, reaching deeper stages of restorative rest.*
"I take these 30 minutes before I hit the bed and within 10 to 15 minutes I'm out and stay sleeping most of the night,"* notes Wayne, a sleep support+ customer who did not find melatonin effective.
The bestselling supplement is gentler than melatonin in that it doesn't lead to an overwhelming urge to go to bed. "While it doesn't 'knock you out,' it does help in a more gentle way,"* notes another reviewer, Rev.
And while many people, like sleep support+ reviewer Tracey, report having unpleasant dreams on melatonin, sleep support+ should not have the strange side effect. "I used to take three melatonin every night and had crazy dreams," she says. "I take two [sleep support+] before my bath every night and read for 10 minutes and quickly fall asleep and wake refreshed every morning. Finally sleeping eight hours every night. They work!"*
"I like the product. It seems to help me sleep more soundly with no side effects like melatonin," echoes sleep support+ user Michael G.*
Most importantly, beyond being an effective sleep aid, sleep support+ is safe to take nightly. As board-certified integrative medicine doctor Heather Moday, M.D., writes of the product, "Knowing that this is an exceptionally pure, high-quality product that is tested beyond industry standards makes me confident in recommending it wholeheartedly not only to my clients but to family and friends."
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The takeaway
Regularly taking melatonin leads to surges of this hormone in the body, which could come with unpleasant aftereffects. mindbodygreen's sleep support+ is a nonhormonal sleep aid designed to help support quality sleep night after night, using only safe ingredients you can feel good about keeping on your bedside.*
Emma Loewe is the Sustainability and Health Director at mindbodygreen and the author of Return to Nature: The New Science of How Natural Landscapes Restore Us. She is also the co-author of The Spirit Almanac: A Modern Guide To Ancient Self Care, which she wrote alongside Lindsay Kellner.
Emma received her B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy with a specialty in environmental communications from Duke University. In addition to penning over 1,000 mbg articles on topics from the water crisis in California to the rise of urban beekeeping, her work has appeared on Grist, Bloomberg News, Bustle, and Forbes. She's spoken about the intersection of self-care and sustainability on podcasts and live events alongside environmental thought leaders like Marci Zaroff, Gay Browne, and Summer Rayne Oakes.