Hi —
I took 5mg of melatonin every night for 18 months. It did nothing.
My Oura ring didn't see a difference. Sleep onset, total time, deep sleep — none of it moved. When I finally stopped, my sleep didn't get worse either. Some research suggests the doses most products sell are 10x what your body actually needs. Sub-1mg doses might work for some people. For me, none.
Sleep is the request I get most. So this week — my actual stack, what I tried that didn't work, and what to do tonight that costs nothing.
Affiliate disclosure: Some links below are affiliate. Commissions don't decide my picks.
The stack (9pm to lights out)
1. Magnesium glycinate, 400mg with dinner. (Issue #1 pick.)
2. cbdMD Full Spectrum CBD tincture, 25mg, around 9:30pm. (Issue #2 pick.)
3. No screens after 10pm. The boring one. More important than 1 and 2 combined.
4. Bedroom at 65–67°F. Single biggest free win available. Sleep onset drops about 30% on average. Buy a fan if your AC won't go that low.
The other thing I keep nearby
cbdMD Broad Spectrum CBD Freeze Roller.
Not strictly sleep — but I use it after workouts and at the end of long days when my back complains. Menthol + CBD roll-on. The menthol does the cooling immediately; the CBD is the slower muscle thing. One in my desk drawer, one on my nightstand. Topical, so no systemic effect — purely localized.
The roll-on I keep around: https://track.flexlinkspro.com/g.ashx?foid=156074.10393.3245589&trid=1476186.213856&foc=16&fot=9999&fos=6
Diamond CBD also stocks topicals and runs 50% off for new customers if you want to try one cheaper:
Diamond CBD topicals — 50% off new customer: https://track.flexlinkspro.com/g.ashx?foid=24.212261.6658000&trid=1476186.212261&foc=16&fot=9999&fos=6
Things I tried that did nothing
Melatonin. (Covered above.)
Magnesium threonate. Marketed as "brain-penetrating" magnesium for cognition and sleep. Expensive. I felt no difference vs. glycinate. The studies behind it are small, mostly rat trials, and the dose required to replicate in humans is impractical. Save the money.
Three small wins
1. Stop eating three hours before bed. Late meals tank deep sleep. I moved dinner to 6:30pm and my deep-sleep score climbed from 18% to 24% of total sleep in two weeks.
2. Hard caffeine cutoff: 10am, not 2pm. The 2pm rule is conservative. The hardcore version is 10am. Try it for two weeks.
3. If you skipped Issue #1: 200mg magnesium glycinate with dinner. Start there.
The skip
Sleep gummies with a long ingredient list. Most are 70% sugar and 30% "sleep blend" at homeopathic doses. Read the supplement facts panel — not the front of the package. If you're getting 5mg of melatonin and 1mg of "proprietary blend," you're eating candy.
One thing I get asked
"What about ashwagandha?"
I take it. KSM-66 extract, 600mg, in the morning. Doesn't directly help sleep — but reduces my reaction to daytime stress, which feeds back into better sleep. I'll cover it properly in a future issue.
Next Sunday
Gummies. I've manufactured millions of them. The piece nobody in this industry will tell you straight.
— Dan