Shopper's Guide•Sleep
6 things that changed from night one to week 8 on Supersleep
Summary: I quit melatonin because of the mornings, not the nights. Supersleep is melatonin-free and built on six ingredients that were each studied at a different timepoint, from the first night to the eighth week. Here's what landed when, with the studies and what it felt like.
Here's all 6 👇
1. Night 1: asleep faster and deeper, with no melatonin in it
Supersleep is melatonin-free, which is the whole reason I tried it, and it's the one product on this list where night one has a study behind it. The ingredient is glycine, 3 grams per packet, an amino acid that lowers core body temperature the way your body does naturally before sleep. In a placebo-controlled trial of adults with long-standing poor sleep, 3g before bed helped them fall asleep faster, reach deep sleep faster and sleep more efficiently, without changing normal sleep architecture. Same 3g. First night.
2. Morning 1: no fog, because there's nothing to wear off
The reason I quit melatonin wasn't the falling asleep. It was the mornings. Supersleep has no melatonin and no hormones, so there's nothing to still be in your system at 7am. The same glycine study measured the next day too: less daytime sleepiness and better performance on a memory task versus placebo. There's also 200mg of L-theanine in the packet, which in EEG research increases alpha brainwave activity, the calm-but-alert state, without sedation. You wind down. You don't get knocked down.
Yamadera et al., 2007: 3g glycine reduced next-day sleepiness and improved memory recognition vs placebo. Nobre et al., 2008: 50mg L-theanine increased alpha brainwave activity. Research relates to the ingredients, not to Nello or to this product.
3. Day 7: clearer mornings, and the GABA week
A week in, two more studies land. Glycine again: seven nights of 3g at bedtime left people feeling less fatigued, more lively and clearer-headed the next morning than placebo. And GABA, 100mg in each packet, the brain's main calming neurotransmitter: in a one-week trial, oral GABA shortened the time to fall asleep and increased total non-REM sleep versus control. Day seven was when my partner said I'd stopped doing the thing where I lie there narrating my to-do list out loud.
Inagawa et al., 2006: 3g glycine at bedtime for 7 days reduced fatigue and improved liveliness and clear-headedness the next morning vs placebo. Yamatsu et al., 2016: oral GABA for 1 week reduced sleep latency and increased total non-REM sleep vs control. Research relates to the ingredients, not to Nello or to this product.
4. Week 4: more deep sleep, and cortisol comes into it
Maizinol is the ingredient in Supersleep you probably haven't heard of. It's a corn-leaf extract, and Supersleep has 250mg, exactly the dose in its four-week trial. Over those four weeks, deep sleep increased, overall sleep quality scores improved, salivary cortisol dropped and several mood measures improved, with deep sleep and sleep quality also beating placebo at key timepoints. Week four is where sleep stopped being something I fell into and started being something I actually came out of rested.
Talbott et al., 2022: 250mg/day Maizinol for 4 weeks improved deep sleep, PSQI global score, salivary cortisol and mood dimensions vs baseline, with deep sleep and PSQI significantly better than placebo at key timepoints. Research relates to the Maizinol ingredient, not to Nello or to this product.
5. Week 4: magnesium, at the dose that was actually studied
Everyone's heard magnesium helps sleep, and everyone's taken a random dose of the wrong form. Supersleep has 250mg of magnesium glycinate, the gentle, well-absorbed form, and 250mg is what a 2025 placebo-controlled trial used: over four weeks, adults with self-reported poor sleep saw a modest but significant reduction in how severe their sleep difficulty was, with good tolerability. Modest is the right word and I'd rather tell you that than oversell it. It's one of six ingredients pulling in the same direction.
Schuster et al., 2025: 250mg/day magnesium bisglycinate for 4 weeks produced a modest but significant reduction in sleep-difficulty severity vs placebo in adults with self-reported poor sleep. Research relates to the magnesium ingredient, not to Nello or to this product.
6. Week 8: stress and sleep, handled together
The last ingredient to arrive is KSM-66 ashwagandha, 300mg per packet, and eight weeks is its timepoint. In a placebo-controlled trial, 250mg a day for eight weeks reduced perceived stress by 33%, lowered serum cortisol and improved sleep quality. It's the ingredient that works on the reason you can't sleep rather than the sleep itself. Eight weeks in, here's the full packet I'm still taking: glycine 3,000mg, KSM-66 300mg, magnesium glycinate 250mg, Maizinol 250mg, L-theanine 200mg, GABA 100mg. Melatonin-free. Every dose printed.
Salve et al., 2019: KSM-66 ashwagandha at 250mg/day for 8 weeks reduced perceived stress (average 33%) and serum cortisol and improved sleep quality vs placebo. Doses per packet from the Supersleep supplement facts panel. Research relates to the ingredients, not to Nello or to this product.
