Quote Originally Posted by FryingMan View Post
What are your favorites for sleep quality? If only I could get back to sleep quickly and consistently after wakings after 4 hrs, I'd be dreaming up a storm...
Since I'm so caffeine sensitive and subject to middle of the night insomnia, I'd be very concerned about any caffeine...but I've heard that it does work well, I guess for those who tend to zonk out back to sleep immediately.
Right, this could take some time, but let's do this!

Actually, on second thought, I'll try to limit myself here.

The first thing I would say is that I'm very conscious of avoiding building up tolerance, so I virtually never use anything two nights in a row.*

My second point would be that I believe sleep issues vary widely from one person to the next, so what works wonders for one person may make matters worse for another. Generally, I subscribe to the idea that our bodies need just the right mix of various things in order to function at their best, and where some may be deficient in one thing, others may be deficient in something entirely different, or they may have too much of something, and therefore finding the perfect supplement (or procedure) for improving sleep may involve a lot of personal experimentation.

These general remarks out of the way, what works best for me are the following:

TMG (trimethylglycine): 500 mg of this before bedtime will give me four hours of undisturbed sleep. After that, I get into tossing and turning, which is my normal mode of sleep all night (if not taking anything).

Psyllium husks (1 tsp. soaked in water): For others this gets their digestion going. For me, it enhances sleep quality. I can use this on its own, or in combination with something else.

L-Taurine: 500 mg before bedtime, and I will toss and turn like usual, but I will fall asleep again much quicker after each awakening. When you wake up dozens of time during the night, this is very useful.

Passion flower extract, Valerian, Bacopa Monnieri extract, Ashwagandha extract: These will deepen my sleep, and enhance dreaming. But the tossing and turning will be unaffected.

Melatonin: 0.3 mg (yes, the regular dosages well above that are really too much) will make me very sleepy, and I will be very unconscious for the first several hours. Unfortunately, the sleep is not at all restful.

Blue lotus: Very relaxing, and improves probability of astral projection. I use it very rarely, however.

Agmatine Sulfate (250 mg): Better sleep quality, and enhanced dreaming.

Oleamide (50-70 mg): Clearly deeper sleep.

Phenibut (around 300 mg): Deep sleep that is very conducive for lucid dreaming and astral projection. Is notorious for building up tolerance fast (I NEVER use this more than every five days, and generally much more rarely than that).

Warm milk with honey: Clearly more restful sleep.

The scent of orange blossom (Neroli): Much deeper sleep than normal.

Yoga Nidra: makes me fall asleep quite fast (which it really is not intended to do).

I have tried many others, and occasionally use them, but these are the ones I keep returning to.


*Lately I've been trying out Agmatine Sulfate, and that has been every night for several days at a stretch. Due to many reports by others, I have been assumning that tolerance would not build. So far, tolerance has not built.