Lemon balm is a herb from a mint family native to the Mediterranean region. It has been cultivated for over 2,000 years and used as a medicine thanks to its calming and “anti-stress” action, promoting sleep and relaxation.

In addition to promoting sleep, lemon balm is used for stress relief and reducing anxiety attacks. It also helps with focus and concentration, reduces irritability and depression, and improves memory and learning retention during the day.

Passionflower is a beautiful exotic-looking plant revered by the mountain people of Peru for thousands of years for its sedative and anxiolytic effects. It was traditionally used to calm free-running thoughts in individuals with insomnia. 

Passionflower also very gently and naturally works to normalize and regulate serotonin in the brain. In periods of stress, the neurotransmitter serotonin declines, thus exacerbating the effects – anxiety and insomnia often ensue. Users of this herb often report that their symptoms show great improvement: less anxiety, better sleep, and an increased sense of dealing with life’s challenges. 

Ashwagandha or Withania somnifera has the clue right in its name as “somnifera” actually means sleep-inducing in Latin. In Germany, it is also often called a sleeping berry. Practitioners of Indian Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine have used ashwagandha to induce sleep for centuries. This herb works as an adaptogen by regulating chronically elevated cortisol production to help reduce chronic stress and anxiety, two of the main causes of sleep deprivation. It can be particularly effective for those suffering from non-restorative sleep (NRS) because ashwagandha can boost energy, focus, and concentration the following day.

Magnolia is a beautiful fragrant, flowering tree with an ancient history of medical use in traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean medicine. Magnolia bark is best known today for its ability to support a healthy stress response, a calm mood, and restful sleep. Magnolol, honokiol, and endemol are bioactive compounds responsible for most of the sleep-promoting effects of magnolia.

Several mechanisms of action have been discovered to explain magnolia’s sleep-promoting effects. Magnolol and honokiol can activate cannabinoid receptors in the brain, which help to relieve pain, relax muscles, reduce anxiety, and prepare the body for sleep. These compounds also bind to receptors for gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain, helping augment calming neurotransmitter GABA’s ability to support sleep and relaxation.

Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice that has been used in the traditional medicine of the Middle East and Mediterranean countries for many years, and now its extract is becoming one of the most highly valued herbal approaches to boosting mood, promoting a relaxed and focused mind, improving sleep quality, and exerting many other health benefits.

Saffron has bioactive compounds such as crocin, crocetin, picrocrocin, and safranal that can cross the blood-brain barrier and affect the brain. These compounds can modulate serotonin and dopamine neurotransmission and support a positive mood and calmness during the day while promoting sleep and relaxation during the night.

Melatonin is a hormone primarily produced in the pineal gland. The pineal gland acts as the body’s central clock through its secretion of melatonin, telling the brain, body, and organs when it’s time to be active and when it’s time to rest. This is the reason why melatonin is referred to as the “sleep hormone.”

When taken as a supplement, plant-derived melatonin, called phytomelatonin, doesn’t force our body to sleep like prescription pills do. Instead, it tricks the brain into thinking it’s sunset, making it wind down and get ready for sleep. Phytomelatonin gets our body ready for sleep. It lowers body temperature, blood pressure, stress hormones, and how alert we feel, helping us to drift off. It usually works very quickly and within 20 minutes of taking the pill.

Unlike many other companies that use synthetic, man-made melatonin in their products, at OneChoice, we use natural phytomelatonin derived from St. John’s Wort

L-theanine is a non-dietary amino acid found in green tea that may affect sleep by influencing several neurotransmitters and promoting relaxing brain activity. In the brain, L-theanine boosts the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, as well as increasing the levels of brain growth factors Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), and Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) while decreasing levels of norepinephrine (noradrenaline). 

These combined chemical changes may slow brain activity, promote positive feelings, and reduce alertness and anxiety. Promoting relaxation and positive feelings helps people fall asleep faster and sleep better. It is commonly used to treat sleep disturbances, improve non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and reduce psychological stress.

Magnesium bisglycinate is a chelated form of magnesium made from elemental magnesium bonded to two molecules of the amino acid glycine, which has brain health benefits.

Chronic or long-term stress can lead to magnesium deficiency, characterized by consistently low magnesium levels.Low magnesium levels are associated with raised brain noradrenaline levels and an increased sensitivity to stress. Feeling stressed can make it difficult to fall asleep and can impact our ability to fall back asleep if we wake up in the middle of the night.

Glycine is an essential amino acid that has important brain neurotransmitter functions in the brain.Glycine supplementation can improve sleep quality of sleep, making this form of magnesium a good choice for those with insomnia. Overall, magnesium bisglycinate is a great option for stress resilience, anxiety and depression, better sleep, and reducing the symptoms of restless leg syndrome. It also has no laxative effects compared to various inorganic magnesium salts.

Vitamin B6 plays an important role in the synthesis of GABA, tryptophan, and serotonin, all of which impact sleep. In addition, vitamin B6 has the effect of “escorting” magnesium into the neurons where it’s needed, essential in boosting magnesium bioefficacy in the brain.