Best OTC Sleep Aid

There’s no overstating the importance of sleep for daily and long-term health.1 But getting enough sleep isn’t always easy. Even getting enough hours isn’t necessarily enough if that sleep is shallow or frequently interrupted.2

The desire to sleep better sends plenty of people to seek out prescription help, but prescription sleep aids can have intense side effects, and some can even be addicting. That’s where over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids come in. The best OTC sleep aids offer reliable sleep support, either for immediate relief or for long-term sleep improvement.

But even OTC sleep aids can be dangerous, and some are more effective than others. To help you find the one that’s best for you, our team dove headlong into the science behind sleep and tried the market’s top options for ourselves.

We delve into all of the finer details throughout this guide, but here’s a quick summary of our findings for those in a rush.

At Innerbody Research, we thoroughly test each and every product we review, including the OTC sleep aids in this guide. Our team consumed more than 200 articles from scientific journals and accumulated more than 500 hours of reading and testing in preparation for this content.

On top of our investigation into the science behind these sleep aids, we scoured the marketplace to identify products with ingredient bills that aligned with scientific evidence to support sleep safely and ordered the best of those products for ourselves. That puts us in a unique position to speak to the customer experience from a more informed place than the average shopper.

Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this guide was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy and will continue to be monitored for updates by our editorial team.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions about staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles.

In evaluating OTC sleep aids, we looked at critical aspects like effectiveness, safety, and cost. We also considered more subjective measures like the convenience each approach offered and even the taste where applicable.

Let’s look closer at each criterion to see what supplements fared the best.

Effectiveness

Winner: Ritual Stress Relief

Our assessment of effectiveness takes into account an important part of sleep supplement science that we spend more time discussing later. The heart of the matter is that sleep aids designed to knock you out the first night you take them might be effective in the short term, but long-term safety and efficacy data are lacking.3

We consider the most effective sleep aids to be those designed for the long haul and containing ingredients that promote healthier rest — not necessarily the ones capable of hypnotizing you to sleep after a single dose. And among those, the simple but well-dosed formula in Ritual’s Stress Relief happens to be our preferred pick.

In this product, Ritual combines three of the best ingredients for sleep available on the market. They also happen to be among the best stress-relief ingredients out there. Specifically, we’re talking about ashwagandha and saffron extracts alongside the amino acid L-theanine. None should knock you out, though they may induce a little drowsiness. And after a few weeks, they have the ability to help you fall asleep faster, sleep more deeply, and stay asleep longer, all without hangover effects that could make you groggy the next day.

Safety

Winner: L-Theanine

Single-ingredient products are more likely to offer better safety profiles than complex formulas. Among all the single-ingredient options you have for improving sleep, L-theanine, an amino acid commonly found in tea, is among the safest. Human studies regularly report few to no adverse effects, and animal studies using extremely high doses also show L-theanine to be safe.

In one high-dose animal study, rats were given up to 4,000mg per kilogram of body weight for 13 weeks4 — in human equivalence, that’s nearly 50g/day — yet the study showed no evidence of adverse effects. For reference, the common dose for L-theanine to help with sleep is 200mg, more than 200 times less than the dose equivalent in that animal study.5

Other single ingredients that can help with sleep have pretty good safety profiles, including saffron extract, a close runner-up in this criterion.

Cost

Winner: Micro Ingredients Magnesium Glycinate

Our cost consideration took more than just sticker price into account. If you wanted to spend as little money up front as possible to get an effective sleep aid, we might recommend Swanson’s L-theanine or Life Extension Serene Sleep. But this criterion is about cost, not price, which includes the cost of using a product over time.

To that end, Micro Ingredients takes the win thanks to a well-priced magnesium glycinate that packs a clinically relevant dose for sleep into each of the 240 capsules in every bag. That allows you to stretch a single installment of this product for up to eight months.

Here’s how the prices compare to the costs:

As you can see, even though a single purchase of Micro Ingredients Magnesium Glycinate costs more than either of the other listed competitors, those competitors only offer 30 clinically relevant doses per purchase. That means the price you see for those products is your monthly cost. By comparison, the monthly cost from Micro Ingredients at one capsule per day is just $3.89.

Convenience

Winner: Swanson Suntheanine

We draw conclusions about convenience from a combination of factors, including how easy a supplement is to take and how easy it is to deal with the company selling it. Swanson gets high marks for its use of branded Suntheanine L-theanine, which should be effective for sleep at around 200mg. Swanson offers Suntheanine in either 100mg or 200mg capsules, depending on your preference. This adds a potential level of convenience (and savings) for anyone who sees a benefit from just 100mg or knows they want 200mg. You can start out taking 100mg and titrate up after a while if the effect is too mild.

Having just 100mg per capsule also helps keep the capsule size remarkably small, increasing the convenience and ease of swallowing for anyone who has difficulty taking pills.

Swanson also has one of the best money-back guarantees in its class, allowing you to try the product for up to 100 days before returning. All of the other companies in this guide offer less (like Recess’ 14-day guarantee or the 30 days you get from Ritual). The interface online also allows you to set up subscription intervals of 30, 45, 60, 75, or 90 days, depending on how quickly you run through a bottle.

Taste

Winner: Recess Mood Powder

By far, the best-tasting sleep product our team tried was Recess Mood Powder. To be clear, this is the powdered drink mix available in tubs or stick packs from Recess, not the premade canned beverages the company sells under the same ‘Mood’ banner. The berry flavor was a unanimous favorite over the lemon or unflavored varieties, and it’s sweetened with monk fruit, providing enough sweetness without a strange aftertaste.

Most of the supplements we reviewed for this piece were capsules containing powdered ingredients. However, some were gummies or beverages with flavor profiles we could compare to guide you toward the tastiest sleep aid options.

CBD is a potentially useful sleep aid, but CBD gummies can have a little bit of an earthy flavor associated with hemp products. Some of the drinks we tried also used artificial sweeteners like sucralose or natural sweeteners like stevia, both of which can have unpleasant aftertastes.

Over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids are products containing ingredients that can help you sleep but don’t require a prescription from a doctor; you can get them readily online or at your local pharmacy right off the shelf. They can contain a single ingredient or a complex formula of ingredients, ideally with plentiful scientific support indicating their ability to improve sleep.

OTC sleep aids can come in various forms. Some are traditional capsules or tablets. Others are drink mixes or gummies. It’s typically easier to align with doses used in clinical research when you reach for capsules or tablets, but drink mixes can also be reliably effective. Gummies can be effective, too, but their dosing can be wildly inaccurate depending on the manufacturer’s practices and the time that’s elapsed since the product left the factory.82

One OTC sleep aid ingredient is likely more familiar to most people than any other: melatonin. However, melatonin might not be the best choice for everyone.

Melatonin is an incredibly popular, reliably effective, and widely available OTC sleep aid, but our review of the available research has concluded that it shouldn't be the first choice for long-term sleep health, especially at the commonly recommended doses.6 Among other things, supplemental melatonin provides the body with far more of the hormone than it’s used to processing, and there’s some evidence that it can cause next-day drowsiness.9

Other ingredients that act similarly can share some of the same problems that make melatonin unsuitable for various populations. In some cases, this is a question of specific aspects of a given ingredient, like risks of dependence or unwanted side effects. However, melatonin and similar fast-acting ingredients could still have a critical role to play in sleep supplementation.

People who are struggling with significant insomnia and need immediate relief would do well to consider a fast-acting ingredient like melatonin — though anyone with such a significant sleep problem should talk to a doctor about it.6

Ultimately, we prefer to steer readers toward longer-term sleep solutions, specifically products they could take for weeks, months, or even years to build up positive sleep patterns, deeper sleep, and less daytime grogginess.

To understand the differences among these ingredients and how they can help or harm in the short and long term, let’s examine how sleep aids work in the first place.

OTC sleep aids can work through several mechanisms of action. Some help increase the hormone melatonin or the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Others can influence the relaxation of muscles or bind to certain receptors that promote wakefulness. Here, we break down what science has revealed are the means by which the most popular and potent sleep aids get the job done and what research says could be an effective dose for you.

Melatonin

The hormone melatonin may be the king of OTC sleep aids. The body makes its own endogenous melatonin in the pineal gland, but studies consistently show that exogenous melatonin can profoundly impact sleep.7 The problem is that the body produces around 0.3mg or less daily, but melatonin supplements can contain anywhere from a microdose of melatonin measured in micrograms all the way up to doses exceeding 10mg, more than 30 times the amount the body’s used to handling.

Exactly how long-term exposure to such a high quantity of melatonin can affect you is still unclear. Even as recently as 2022, a thorough review of the melatonin research landscape revealed just four studies in high-dose melatonin use (defined as chronic administration of 10mg/day or more) that bothered to report adverse effects and met criteria for limiting bias.8 Drowsiness, headache, and dizziness were common, but the combined participant group across all four studies was just 204 people with a range of 10-25mg used among the studies.

One of those studies saw twice as many dropouts from adverse effects in the melatonin group compared to placebo, and those effects included fatigue, dizziness, depression, and sleep disturbance.9

That said, smaller doses of melatonin may be both safer and equally effective, especially considering the small amount the body is used to processing and the fact that some of the melatonin in a given dose likely won’t make it into the bloodstream through first-pass metabolism.10

GABA

As with melatonin, the body already produces GABA, a critical neurotransmitter associated with sleep. But unlike with melatonin, research into the efficacy and safety of exogenous GABA is less convincing.

In 2020, a team of researchers narrowed down the field to just 14 GABA studies that met rigorous criteria (e.g., placebo-controlled design and a low risk of bias). Those studies looked into stress and sleep effects of orally administered GABA and found “limited evidence for stress and very limited evidence for sleep benefits.”11

It would likely be smarter to take supplements that increase the natural production of GABA, like ashwagandha or valerian root.12 13

Valerian root

While a recent review threw some cold water on valerian root’s potential to treat insomnia, this botanical ingredient still boasts a fair amount of scientific and anecdotal evidence that it can improve sleep quality parameters like sleep onset latency and next-day restedness.14

In addition to its role in GABA production, valerian appears to have some influence over tryptophan metabolism, which is a key component of cellular health and melatonin production.15 These multiple potential mechanisms of action could help explain valerian’s effectiveness at influencing positive sleep patterns, but its difficulty in treating clinical insomnia remains an issue for patients dealing with more significant sleep problems.

Doses vary widely from study to study, with some research showing efficacy from 100mg of a valerian extract or at least 300mg of dried root material.16

L-Theanine

L-Theanine is an amino acid commonly found in tea that is often paired with caffeine in nootropic and pre-workout supplements. Together, the pair seem to complement one another’s effects, allowing for caffeine to exert its focus without the jitteriness or crash it can sometimes cause.17 However, you’re not likely to find caffeine in a sleep aid, so L-theanine is left to act on its own.

Taken alone, L-theanine appears to bind to glutamine receptors, inhibiting glutamine uptake to starve the brain of excitatory neurotransmitters, and even be able to counter lingering effects of previously consumed caffeine toward day’s end.18 19 20 A 200mg dose is often the low end of what’s effective in research.

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is a botanical with a long history in Ayurvedic medicine. Its primary constituent parts are withanolides, bioactive compounds that the best ashwagandha extracts will standardize for, delivering a consistent amount with each dose.

In addition to the GABAergic effects referenced above, ashwagandha has been shown to mitigate stress and improve sleep by reducing serum cortisol levels.21 A significant review of ashwagandha’s sleep potential found that it had a beneficial effect on sleep in adults, with five randomized controlled trials included that totaled 400 participants.22

Effective doses in studies with standardized extracts provide between 15mg and 84mg of withanolides. Branded ashwagandha extracts are among your best options to ensure reliable standardization, with a dose range of 300-600mg KSM-66 ashwagandha or 80-240mg Shoden ashwagandha showing the most success in studies.22

Here’s a look at the features of the top branded ashwagandha extracts:

Some publications have implied that continuous ashwagandha use can cause the body to become desensitized to its effects, necessitating a cyclic approach where you take it for a predetermined amount of time, stop taking it for a shorter length of time, and then begin the cycle anew. However, we have found no clinical evidence to support these theories, and the evidence we have reviewed implies that ashwagandha remains effective as you continue to take it.

Saffron

Derived from the flower Crocus sativus, saffron is a spice you may have consumed in Indian or other central Asian cuisine. There appear to be at least two mechanisms of action at play when it comes to saffron’s sleep promotion.

A recent study showed how a daily 14mg or 28mg dose of saffron extract could increase melatonin levels within 28 days.23 A potentially less obvious mechanism of action is saffron’s antioxidant capacity, which is discussed at length in this recent review of randomized controlled saffron trials.24 It turns out that oxidative stress is a driver of sleep disorders, so consuming a potent antioxidant may be able to offset that stress’s influence over your sleep health.25

As is the case with many botanicals, specific bioactive compounds have been identified in saffron that produce most of its therapeutic effects. Specifically, crocins are the bioactive compounds in saffron that allow it to improve sleep, and standardized extracts can provide consistent dosing of these compounds.26

Magnesium

Magnesium is a mineral with several potential mechanisms of action connected to improving sleep. It can regulate GABA and promote muscle relaxation, and magnesium deficiency has been shown to decrease plasma melatonin.27 28 29

Both dose and form are important considerations for magnesium supplementation. Magnesium forms (e.g., magnesium citrate or glycinate) can exhibit different effects in the body, with the glycine in magnesium glycinate potentially contributing to its performance as a sleep aid. Sleep research using supplemental magnesium relies on numerous forms, but we can calculate the amount of elemental magnesium delivered to study participants and find an appropriate dose of magnesium glycinate or any other form of magnesium from there.

For example, a review of studies showed an effective dose range for elemental magnesium (as derived from these various magnesium forms) of 51.2mg at the low end and 305mg at the high end.30 That’s an average dose of 126.4mg, setting a minimum for reliability in dosing. It would take around 900mg of magnesium glycinate to achieve that dose of elemental magnesium.

Zinc

In a recent paper from the International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine, researchers describe zinc’s role as a sleep modulator capable of inducing sleep when consumed from food sources and supplements alike.31

Like magnesium, zinc is available in several formats, each of which delivers a different amount of elemental zinc per dose. And, again like magnesium, figuring out a good dose for sleep requires us to look at the amounts of elemental zinc that have been effective in research.

One successful research study in zinc supplementation for sleep gave 220mg of zinc sulfate to 54 ICU nurses every 72 hours for one month. That’s equal to about 17mg of elemental zinc daily. High-quality zinc formats include zinc citrate, zinc picolinate, and zinc gluconate, each of which would require the following doses to match the study:

As you can see, the higher concentration of elemental zinc in zinc citrate allows you to get the dose needed to match that ICU nurse study from a smaller overall quantity.

Multivitamins

Numerous vitamins make their way into sleep supplements, with some boasting more compelling evidence to justify their presence than others. For example, vitamin D is deeply involved in melatonin production, and studies into its sleep effects use doses ranging from 1,000IU to 5,000IU daily, with some research relying on larger doses delivered less frequently.32 33

Other vitamin research is more limited, with observational association studies (including one in 2022 for B6) drawing relatively loose correlations between certain vitamin deficiencies and sleep problems.34 This could imply that supplemental vitamin therapies could improve sleep, but not necessarily in populations that aren’t deficient. That said, deficiency may be more common than you think, with adults consuming around 15% less than their estimated average requirement (EAR) of B6 and less than half the EAR for vitamins A and D, according to research from Oregon State University.35

Lemon balm

With lemon balm, we return to the question of bioactive compounds and their standardized quantities within an extract. There are unbranded lemon balm extracts out there that claim certain standardizations, but RELISSA is among the few that have a definite presence in scientific literature. It’s standardized to include 17-23% hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives — the important bioactives in lemon balm.

Specifically, RELISSA appears to be effective at improving mood and sleep scores in participants at 400mg/day.36

A review of research into lemon balm suggests that there are three main pathways through which its extracts can work: GABAergic, cholinergic, and serotonergic.37 All three are important neurotransmitters, and lemon balm can directly or indirectly increase their presence in the brain.

Astaxanthin

Astaxanthin is a carotenoid pigment found in algae, salmon, yeast, and bacteria. Its antidepressant and sleep-promoting benefits seem intertwined, at least according to a recent astaxanthin mini-review.38 That same review suggests that astaxanthin’s antioxidant capacity could be at the heart of its efficacy.

Among the studies that have looked at astaxanthin for sleep, most have used relatively low doses compared to other ingredients in this guide. One successful study in adults used just 12mg/day.39 Studies in cardiovascular health have used as little as 1.8mg and as much as 100mg daily, with no adverse effects reported from the 100mg group.40 41

Venetron

It sounds like the name of a Transformers character, but Venetron is actually a branded form of Apocynum venetum leaf extract. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study, 50mg of Venetron daily showed improvements in sleep quality and a reduction in psychological stress after just eight days of administration.42 Research in rats reveals similar effects at doses that would equate to slightly larger quantities (between 390mg and 1,297mg).43 However, it’s worth noting that this animal study was looking at Venetron in direct comparison with the prescription antidepressant fluoxetine.

Another study looking into the combined effects of Venetron and tart cherry extract saw statistically significant improvements in sleep quality, daytime alertness, insomnia symptoms, and anxiety.44 It provided participants with 25mg of Venetron and 553mg of tart cherry extract per dose. A similar combination study employing 100mg of oral GABA and 50mg of Venetron alone and in combination showed that Venetron increased deep sleep compared to GABA or placebo but was less successful at reducing sleep onset latency.45

Lycopene

We discussed the relationship between oxidative stress and sleep disorders earlier. Lycopene serves as another antioxidant option to help reduce the negative impacts of oxidative stress on sleep. Association studies reviewing various nutrients, like one from 2015, regularly find a connection between poor sleep and reduced lycopene intake, as well as a connection between deeper, more satisfying sleep and increased lycopene intake.46

Daily lycopene intake in the U.S. ranges from 5.7mg to 10.5mg, indicating that relatively low doses could help people reach targets associated with better sleep and health.47 One review of studies looking at lycopene for cardiovascular (CV) health revealed a dose-dependent relationship between lycopene supplementation and CV health parameters, with positive effects noticeable from as little as 6mg/day.48 Considering that a study from 2021 linked sleep quality to hypertension, improving CV parameters may go hand-in-glove with improving sleep with lycopene supplementation.49

Lactium

If you’ve ever heard it suggested that a warm glass of milk at bedtime could help you fall asleep, any truth to that statement would likely be associated with alpha-s1 casein hydrolysate, a milk protein derivative sold under the brand name Lactium. Since Lactium is a component of milk protein, it isn’t suitable for vegans. However, it contains virtually no lactose, making it suitable for the vast majority of lactose-intolerant people, despite being derived from cow’s milk.

Lactium has been shown to improve metabolic profiles and reduce stress in studies.50 51 In a sleep-specific study from 2019, Lactium increased total sleep time and sleep efficiency after just two weeks of taking 300mg daily.52

Black cumin seed

Extracts of black cumin seed have been shown to modulate cortisol and melatonin levels in recent clinical research.53 The extract tested is one often seen in supplements, a brand-name offering called BlaQmax. A follow-up study using BlaQmax for sleep found that 200mg daily improved:54

• Sleep efficiency
• Total sleep time
• Sleep onset latency
• Wake after sleep onset
• Overall sleep quality

The hangup is that studies into BlaQmax use softgels containing an oil solution of the extract, while some of the supplements available on the market sell a powdered, encapsulated version of the ingredient. The oil may not absorb the same way in different forms, which should influence dosing, but supplement manufacturers still often use the same 200mg dose from softgel studies when making capsules.

An OTC sleep aid can benefit anyone struggling with subpar sleep who doesn’t have a specific contraindication against the ingredients of a given sleep aid. This is especially true for people who have a little trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or feeling alert the next day.

These kinds of mild sleep issues can cause negative effects to accumulate, resulting in poor habits in the daytime that contribute to poorer sleep on subsequent nights.1 It’s a kind of negative feedback loop that an OTC sleep aid might be able to break and reorient into a positive feedback loop. Improved sleep could improve daily habits, thereby improving sleep, and so on.

The wide variety of OTC sleep aids out there makes their potential audience that much larger. If one option doesn’t work for you because of a medication you take or another condition you have, there are a dozen more waiting in the wings with reasonable scientific support behind them.

Who might want to look elsewhere?

Despite how widely applicable OTC sleep aids can be for the general populace, there are still some people who would do well to avoid them or seek out more comprehensive therapies. For specific sleep aids, there may be dangerous contraindications, which we outline in our safety section.

Clinical insomnia patients would probably be better off talking to their doctor about their sleep issues, because a doctor can run certain tests for deficiencies that might contribute to poor sleep.55 That may ultimately lead you to an OTC supplement like magnesium or zinc, but it might also lead you to a prescription intervention.

OTC sleep aids also shouldn’t be considered cures for mental health problems that are disturbing your sleep. They may serve as bridge treatments to help your sleep improve while you undergo counseling, but your goal should be to treat the root cause of a sleep issue, not to medicate its symptoms away.56

Until you know how a sleep aid might affect you, make sure not to take it in a situation where you might need to drive or be responsible for another person’s safety in any way.

The safety profiles and potential contraindications of OTC sleep aids vary widely. Some OTC sleep aids have nearly no contraindications and don’t become toxic (or even exhibit any adverse effects in studies) until you reach comically high doses. Others can pose a more immediate risk.

The more ingredients there are in a complex sleep aid formula, the likelier you are to encounter a side effect or two, especially if those ingredients are each present at doses used in isolated studies. However, responsible companies formulate their products to include ingredients that should be safe to take together, even at clinically relevant doses.

Let’s take a quick look back at the ingredients we discussed earlier to see what their safety profiles look like.

Best formula for long-term healthy sleep support (Stress Relief) and best melatonin-only product (Sleep)

Ritual is a wellness company with formulas that are relatively restrained compared to competitors. For example, it offers a multivitamin with just nine ingredients compared to a similar product from Garden of Life that contains over 50 ingredients. The company’s approach to sleep is similar, as its Sleep supplement contains just melatonin. However, the delivery system for that melatonin is unlike anything else out there. Ritual also sells a stress-relief supplement that contains an outstanding trio of ingredients we would highly recommend not just for stress, but for sleep, as well, using the same novel delivery system as the melatonin.

The system we’re talking about is something that Ritual calls its BioSeries. Essentially, BioSeries supplements have their ingredients divided up into smaller time-release capsules that are packaged inside a normal-sized capsule, allowing you to take them all at once.

This system allows the 5mg melatonin dose to be divided into two 2mg doses and a 1mg dose that release at three specific intervals. The theory is that the first 2mg release helps you fall asleep, the second 2mg helps you stay asleep, and the third release of just 1mg helps you complete your rest without feeling too groggy upon waking.

In the Stress Relief supplement, the approach is a little different, with the first part of the dose releasing immediately, the second releasing over a subsequent four-hour period, and the third releasing for the eight hours following that. Longer time releases in Stress Relief may allow the ingredients to work their hardest in the morning, when cortisol levels can be at their highest, and continue working steadily toward evening.

The Stress Relief formula contains three ingredients:

• Shoden ashwagandha: 80mg
• Suntheanine L-theanine: 200mg
• Affron saffron extract: 28mg

These are among the safest and most well-studied ingredients for both stress and sleep. The ashwagandha dose is on the low side among sleep studies that have used Shoden, but it’s still within an effective range.22 And the doses of saffron and L-theanine align very well with research.18 23

Stress Relief comes with a citrus essence, and Sleep has a light vanilla essence to it. The citrus is a nice complement to the morning regimen that Ritual suggests for Stress Relief, and Sleep’s vanilla offers a nice little sweetness before bed. Our testers mostly liked both essences, though there was a preference for the citrus.

Ritual BioSeries pricing

Both Sleep and Stress Relief are available as one-time purchases or as subscriptions, with subscribers saving around 20% and getting free shipping. Here’s what the pricing looks like:

Ritual provides free shipping to subscribers or $6.95 flat-rate shipping for one-time purchases. There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, as well, which is better than some companies but still inferior to the 100-day guarantee from Swanson on its L-theanine. That said, 30 days should be enough to know whether either Sleep or Stress Relief is effective for you.

Best for occasional use

For safety and next-day grogginess reasons, we prefer an approach to sleep support that prioritizes long-term sleep health, not necessarily first-dose efficacy. That said, sleep disorders can be so debilitating that a person could reasonably want immediate relief above all else, at least for the short term.

That’s where supplements like Momentous Elite Sleep come in. Now, the company advertises its supplement as being safe for long-term use, and there are some people for whom this will ultimately be true. However, it only earns our regard as your best option for occasional use because of its 3mg dose of melatonin and 300mg dose of valerian root. (Its B6 and L-theanine content should prove helpful for however long you take it.)

The only underdosed aspect of the formula is the tart cherry powder. Most research into tart cherry for sleep uses tart cherry juice, which can deliver a lot more of its bioactive compounds than a powder, even a powdered extract. According to a study on tart cherry juice for sleep, you can get around 42.6mcg of melatonin from 100 cherries.84 To get to the 1-5mg of melatonin seen in most melatonin supplements, you’d need the equivalent of around 11,000 cherries. At the very least, you’d need more than the 200mg of tart cherry powder seen here.

Here’s a quick look at the ingredient bill in its entirety:

• Vitamin B6: 4mg
• Melatonin: 3mg
• Tart cherry powder: 200mg
• L-Theanine: 200mg
• Valerian root extract: 300mg

Momentous Elite Sleep pricing

Momentous Elite Sleep is available as a one-time purchase for $44.95 or a subscription for $33.72. For a complex formula, that’s less expensive than Ritual’s Stress Relief, though it’s worth noting that Ritual’s formula contains only branded ingredients with significant research support behind them. If you want to try before subscribing, you can save money on Amazon.

Shipping in the U.S. is a flat fee of $8 unless you reach Momentous’ $75 free shipping threshold. The company doesn’t offer free shipping for subscribers the way Ritual does. However, the return policy is more or less the same as Ritual’s, offering a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best budget pick

As we discussed earlier, magnesium has the ability to regulate GABA and promote muscle relaxation, but the form of magnesium you take to achieve these goals can also influence how successful it is at improving sleep. We often recommend magnesium glycinate for readers interested in sleep support over other forms of magnesium because the amino acid L-glycine has its own research-backed ability to support sleep.

Granted that L-glycine’s ability to support sleep is often seen at higher doses than what you’re likely to get from a magnesium glycinate supplement, it still puts you in a better place for sleep than other magnesium forms would.76

Micro Ingredients provides high-dose capsules of magnesium glycinate for a very reasonable cost. Each bag contains 240 capsules that deliver 166mg of elemental magnesium. That’s enough to be effective for sleep with just one capsule, though some people may find they prefer two. Either way, the cost per capsule is outstanding.

The company also recently released a powdered version of its magnesium glycinate that’s intended to be mixed into water or another beverage of your choice. It’s only available in a peach flavor at this time, but it’s a great way to get a higher dose of magnesium without having to take too many pills if you have trouble swallowing them.

Micro Ingredients pricing

One bag of Micro Ingredients Magnesium Glycinate capsules costs $30.95 directly from the company or around $30 from Amazon. Given the fact that Micro Ingredients doesn’t offer any subscription platform and won’t accept returns on opened goods, you may be better off going through Amazon, even if the only benefits are about $1 off and faster shipping.

If you're more interested in trying the drink mix, that sells for $28.95, but it contains far less magnesium per bag than the capsules do. That's because the drink mix includes other ingredients for flavor and sweetness, including stevia. However, this sells for significantly less via Amazon, where it costs just $13.99 at the time of this writing. That brings the cost per gram of magnesium for the flavored powder below the cost per gram for the capsules.

Shipping from Micro Ingredients is calculated at checkout based on weight and distance unless you meet the company’s $59 free shipping threshold. That’s a lower threshold than Momentous, though the free shipping Ritual offers subscribers and the free shipping Recess has on all orders are still superior.

Best OTC sleep aid beverage

Recess is probably better known for its canned adaptogen drinks and nonalcoholic adaptogen mocktails. These have roles to play in people’s wellness journeys, but we’ve found that the company’s most effective product for sleep is its Mood Powder.

Somewhat confusingly, the company also sells a canned, premade drink called Mood, but this product contains a far weaker blend of ingredients than the powdered beverage mix. The powder includes a hefty dose of magnesium, totaling 210mg of elemental magnesium from three magnesium sources: threonate, glycinate, and citrate. It’s a worthwhile blend, but the specific doses of each form are combined into a proprietary mixture on the label.

Mood Powder also contains 200mg of L-theanine and 180mg of passion flower extract. That’s a reliable dose of L-theanine for stress and sleep, but the passionflower dose is low by research standards.

One of the best things about Mood is its flavor. The Gradient Berry was particularly well regarded by our testing team, some of whom continued to use the product in their personal lives. Our testers found it relaxing enough to help them sleep, especially after several days’ use, without being too strong that it could knock them out. If concerns over flavoring or the taste of monk fruit give you pause, there’s also an unflavored variety.

Recess Mood Powder Pricing

Recess Powder is available in tubs or stick packs and comes in three flavor options: unflavored, Gradient Berry, and Lemon Citrus. Pricing is the same regardless of flavor, but the cost per dose of the portable stick packs is much higher than the cost per dose of a tub:

Recess has the shortest return window of the products in our guide, offering just 14 days. That said, it’s a true money-back guarantee, unlike some of the 30-day return windows offered by Micro Ingredients and others. And shipping is free on all orders.

Best single ingredient for sleep (non-melatonin)

Given L-theanine’s safety profile and the reliable effectiveness it displays in dozens of clinical studies looking at sleep, stress, and other issues, it makes a very good choice for anyone seeking a single-ingredient approach to sleep health that isn’t melatonin.

But you can get Suntheanine L-theanine from numerous companies, and there isn’t a meaningful difference between the powder in one company’s capsule and another’s. Therefore, we set out to identify the company selling Suntheanine at the best combination of cost, manufacturing integrity, and customer service, so you can get the most out of a Suntheanine investment.

Swanson delivers on all counts, with only minor hiccups in the presentation of its Suntheanine products.

Swanson offers Suntheanine in 100mg and 200mg capsules. Both are great deals on high-quality products, and both are third-party tested for purity and potency. There’s a slight difference between the products other than dose, however.

The 100mg version of Suntheanine uses brown rice powder as an excipient (a stabilizing ingredient in the capsule). The 200mg version uses white rice powder. Only the white rice powder in the 200mg version is certified gluten-free, so anyone with a gluten intolerance or allergy can only take the 200mg capsules. If you only need 100mg to feel L-theanine’s effects, that’s not exactly good news. Fortunately, most sleep studies support the use of 200mg to improve sleep, and the price per gram of Suntheanine is even better with the 200mg version than the 100mg version.

Swanson Suntheanine pricing

As we just discussed, Swanson sells Suntheanine in 100mg and 200mg capsule sizes for the following prices:

Unfortunately, the free shipping threshold for Swanson doesn’t kick in until you spend more than $29, and flat-rate standard shipping is $7.99. That nearly doubles your cost unless you purchase multiple bottles or add another product to your cart.

On the good news front, Swanson has the best money-back guarantee in our guide, offering you 100 days to try its products before returning them if they don’t work out. You shouldn’t need that much time to know if L-theanine can help with your sleep needs, but it’s nice to have all that time.

Improving your sleep might take more than just an OTC sleep aid. You might want to combine such a product with some of the viable alternatives out there, or you might prefer to stick with a simple approach like a prescription sleep aid. Let’s take a quick look at some prescription and nonprescription alternatives to improve your sleep (many of which may be safe to use with supplemental approaches, as long as your doctor approves).

Diet and exercise

It’s not what everyone wants to hear, but improving your diet — cutting out refined sugars and ultra-processed foods — will likely improve your sleep.32 Even if you already eat a relatively healthy diet, things like cutting yourself off from consuming excess foods late at night can help your body wind down. And exercise offers a host of sleep-enhancing benefits, from the release of powerful neurotransmitters and feel-good hormones to the practical effect of tiring out your body.77

Talk therapy

If your sleep issues stem from deeper psychological problems, talk therapy may be necessary to help resolve them.78 This is a long-term strategy, however, even longer than the melatonin-free supplements in this guide. You could likely supplement talk therapy with a good OTC sleep aid or other approaches from this section.

The 10-3-2-1-0 rule

The 10-3-2-1-0 rule boasts only anecdotal evidence at this time, but it’s a convenient way to remember some basic behaviors that may help with your circadian rhythms. The idea is that you stop drinking caffeine ten hours before bedtime, cut out alcohol three hours before bed, cease stimulating activities two hours before bed, end screen time one hour before, and hit the snooze button zero times when waking.

Prescription sleep aids

If all else fails, or if your sleep problems are severe enough, you may want to consider prescription sleep aids. Many of these carry significant risks of side effects or dependence, however, so this is a path best tread with caution.79