Daydreaming About a Good Night’s Sleep? Catch Some Zzz’s With the Snooze-Supporting Compounds in Supplemental Sleep Longevity

There’s not much worse than getting a horrible night’s sleep — especially when it keeps happening day after day. Just about everybody experiences poor sleep every once in a while, but up to 30% of the general population regularly have sleep disruptions, including difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up still feeling tired. These numbers go even higher for older adults, with up to half of those over 65 having insomniac tendencies. And the consequences of poor sleep are not just irritability or grogginess — chronic lack of sleep can lead to mood disorders, declining cognitive function, metabolic concerns, and weight gain. 

If you’re one of the people who are more likely to be awake counting sheep while popping multiple sleep-promising pills, a new solution may be Sleep Longevity — an all-in-one supplement containing 14 natural ingredients designed to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. 

Understanding the Sleep Cycle

Although you may think of sleep as a time of uneventful rest, your body is actually quite busy performing some of its most vital functions: repairing cells, secreting certain hormones, consolidating memories, and releasing immune cells to fight infections. Sleep is also a crucial time for the body to undergo autophagy — a necessary process that removes or recycles old, damaged, or toxic cells and cell parts to make way for healthy ones. This cellular trash removal is considered a key component of promoting longevity, so getting adequate sleep is not just important today but for your long-term future, too. 

Let’s take a look at how our body cycles through sleep through the night:

• Stage 1: Light sleep — that hazy time between being fully awake and entering sleep, lasting one to five minutes in a healthy sleeper. 
• Stage 2: Onset of relaxed sleep, lasting 10 to 25 minutes during the first sleep cycle but becoming increasingly longer throughout the night. Overall, a person spends about half their sleep time in Stage 2.
• Stages 3 and 4: (Slow Wave sleep or Delta sleep) The deepest, most restorative sleep, lasting about 45-60 minutes per cycle. 
• Stage 5: REM (Rapid Eye Movement). The brain is active, and dreams occur, with each REM stage lasting 10-60 minutes. REM sleep helps your brain consolidate and process new information to retain in your long-term memory. However, with increasing age, less time is spent in REM sleep, and some people get hardly any REM at all.

A healthy sleeper will cycle through these stages approximately four to six times per night. Each night, the first sleep cycles consist of relatively short REM periods and more extended periods of deep sleep. As the night progresses, REM sleep increases in length while deep sleep decreases. By morning, most people spend nearly all of their sleep time in Stages 1, 2, and REM. However, if you have poor sleep patterns and wake up often at night, your body is likely not making it through each sleep cycle without interruption.

The Snooze-Supporting Ingredients in Sleep Longevity

If you’d had trouble sleeping for a while, you’ve likely tried every pill or powder under the sun, including prescription sleep aids. While prescription-strength sleep pills can certainly get you to fall asleep faster, they restrict the deeper brain waves produced during REM sleep, leading to grogginess the following day and unpleasant hangover-like symptoms that create a cycle of dependence. 

Instead, certain botanical herbs and plants have been used for thousands of years to support deep and restorative sleep. These compounds work in four important and synergistic ways:

1. Herbal Sleep Support

Sleep Longevity contains Sedapine™, a proprietary blend of herbs that have been studied for their use in supporting sleep, relaxation, and general health. Sedapine contains: 

• Valerian root — The most researched sleep-supporting herb in the world. No herb has proven to be more effective in clinical studies for providing support for improved sleep. One review identified 12 studies showing that valerian was associated with improvements in sleep latency (the time it takes to transition from full wakefulness to sleep) and quality.
• Jujube seed (Ziziphus Spinosa) — A highly prescribed herb for sleep and relaxation support in traditional Chinese healing practices. It works by modulating the activity of the brain chemical GABA, which inhibits neural activity to calm the mind and induce sleep. 
• Corydalis — A flowering herbal plant historically used in traditional Chinese and Native American healing to support relaxation and stress reduction. The active ingredient in corydalis blocks dopamine receptor sites, providing sedative-like feelings. 
• Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata) — Provides support for stress, mood regulation, and sleep with its calming and restorative properties. One study found that people who drank passionflower tea before bed experienced significantly improved sleep quality compared to a placebo.

2. Digestive Support 

Calming and supporting the digestive tract is an essential step in attaining restful, restorative sleep — especially if you’re prone to feeling discomfort after eating dinner. The Sleep Longevity supplement contains several ingredients that support deep sleep and digestive healing by addressing relaxation and the inflammatory response. 

• Lemon Balm — Used to promote comfort, relaxation, and calmness in the digestive and nervous systems, especially when combined with valerian root.
• Ginger — A digestive aid used to settle the stomach and promote intestinal movement. Gingerol, the main bioactive compound found in ginger, boasts potent antioxidant properties and supports a healthier inflammatory response.
• Peppermint — Traditionally used as a relaxant, peppermint calms the stomach, helps reduce excessive gas production, improves the flow of bile used in fat digestion, and promotes proper elimination.
• Hops — Yep, the same hops found in beer, these flowering plants act directly on the central nervous system to support the relaxation of smooth muscle tissue, improve central nervous system activity, and calm digestion. Studies show that hops work even better when synergistically used with valerian root.

3. Muscle and Nerve Support 

Supporting muscle and nerve health is critical for proper sleep, as anyone with chronic musculoskeletal discomfort can attest. Sleep Longevity contains two forms of magnesium to help support nerve transmission and muscle fiber contraction, along with the calming amino acid, taurine.

• ZMA™ — A combination of the highly bioavailable magnesium aspartate, vitamin B6, and zinc supports sleep and healing by aiding in oxygen transport to nerve and muscle cells. 
• Magnesium Taurinate – Another bioavailable yet gentle source of magnesium combined with the nervous-system-supporting amino acid, L-taurine.

4. Amino Acid and Hormone Support 

Lastly, amino acids are helpful for sleep support due to their importance for maintaining nerve cell health, hormone balance, and neurotransmitter production and release. 

• GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid) — The primary calming amino acid in the central nervous system, this naturally produced substance helps induce relaxation and sleep. It is also known for its calming effect on over-stimulated neurons.
• Melatonin — Perhaps the most well-known sleep supplement, melatonin is a naturally-produced hormone that helps regulate other hormones and maintains the body’s 24-hour internal clock (the circadian rhythm). Melatonin supports the production of the calming neurotransmitter serotonin, which plays a key role in healthy sleep patterns and mood. 
• 5-HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan) — A naturally occurring amino acid used by the body to make serotonin. Research has found 5-HTP to provide significant support for healthy sleep and mood regulation, including one study that found 5-HTP to increase REM sleep from 5% to 53%. 
• L-Theanine — A calming amino acid found in green tea, L-theanine increases GABA levels and the brain’s alpha wave activity associated with calmness and deep relaxation.  

The Fine Print: Recommendations and Precautions 

The recommended dosage is 1-2 capsules taken one hour before bedtime. However, there is some dosage flexibility, with some people taking four capsules. It’s recommended to start with one and gradually increase the dosage as needed, up to a maximum of four. 

As with all sleep products, Sleep Longevity may become less effective over time. If this happens, stop taking it for a few weeks — when you resume taking it, the effectiveness should return.

Contraindications and Precautions

Because Sleep Longevity supports deep sleep, do not drive or do anything that requires being alert after taking it. You’ll also want to avoid taking Sleep Longevity or talk to your doctor first if you fall into any of these categories: 

• Pregnancy and Lactation: Consult your doctor if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Hops should not be used if you are pregnant.
• Mood disorder medications: Consult your physician if you take prescription mood disorder medications. 
• Blood thinners: Ginger stimulates circulation and should not be taken with blood-thinning medications.
• Salicylates: Some herbal components, including peppermint and lemon balm, contribute small amounts of salicylates (the primary compound found in aspirin), which may concern people sensitive to them. 

The Bottom Line 

Sleep is crucial for our health, both in the short-term, by encouraging healthy mood, energy, and productivity, and in the long-term, by reducing the risk of chronic health conditions and supporting longer lifespans. 

Sleep Longevity is a novel supplement that includes 14 botanical and natural ingredients to support healthy sleep. It works by supporting neurotransmitter production, a calm digestive system, muscle and nerve health, hormone balance, and healthy amino acid levels. Try it today, and counting sheep will be a thing of the past.

References: 

Koetter U, Schrader E, Käufeler R, Brattström A. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, prospective clinical study to demonstrate clinical efficacy of a fixed valerian hops extract combination (Ze 91019) in patients suffering from non-organic sleep disorder. Phytother Res. 2007;21(9):847-851. doi:10.1002/ptr.2167

Liu YY, Wang TX, Zhou JC, Qu WM, Huang ZL. Dopamine D1 and D2 receptors mediate analgesic and hypnotic effects of l-tetrahydropalmatine in a mouse model. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2019;236(11):3169-3182. doi:10.1007/s00213-019-05275-3

Maffei ME. 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP): Natural Occurrence, Analysis, Biosynthesis, Biotechnology, Physiology and Toxicology. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;22(1):181. Published 2020 Dec 26. doi:10.3390/ijms22010181

Ngan A, Conduit R. A double-blind, placebo-controlled investigation of the effects of Passiflora incarnata (passionflower) herbal tea on subjective sleep quality. Phytother Res. 2011;25(8):1153-1159. doi:10.1002/ptr.3400

Salter S, Brownie S. Treating [sleep disorders]- the efficacy of valerian and hops. Aust Fam Physician. 2010;39(6):433-437.

Shergis JL, Ni X, Sarris J, et al. Ziziphus spinosa seeds for [sleep]: A review of chemistry and psychopharmacology. Phytomedicine. 2017;34:38-43. doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2017.07.004