Genius Sleep Aid
Positives
- Utilizes theanine
- Uses inositol
Negatives
- Glycine is found in most foods
- Rutaecarpine has not been proven to work on humans
- Pitifully low dose of melatonin
Summary: Anybody using Genius Sleep Aid is going to see improvements in sleep duration. They’re bound to find it easier to get to sleep at night too. Overall, it is a pretty good sleep supplement. But Genius Sleep Aid is far from perfect; it is not even one of the best sleep aids on the market right now. Some ingredients are unproven, others are seriously under-dosed. You can do a lot better!
Genius Sleep Aid Review: What Does It Claim To Do?
We’re sure you’re all familiar with The Genius Brand by now. These guys make some of the most talked-about, well-respected, widely-used supplements in the world. They aren’t a household name like some of the protein powder manufacturers are, but we don’t think they’re far away from that level. We’ve already reviewed Genius Consciousness and Genius Joy. While we had our reservations, these are definitely good quality products.
So what does Genius Sleep Aid have to offer? What does it claim to do, and how does it work?
The bottle describes Genius Sleep Aid as offering “bio-optimizing sleep & adrenal support”. Very interesting.
The official website lists the following benefits that users can expect from Genius Sleep Aid:
- Help falling asleep faster
- Reduced anxiety and stress
- Adrenal gland support
- Help removing caffeine from the body
- Non-habit forming and side effect-free
That sounds like one excellent supplement. This is a complete sleep supplement; it covers every single aspect of sleep, from suppressing anxiety to getting rid of lingering serum caffeine.
According to The Genius Brand that is!
Does Genius Sleep Aid really work? How good is it compared to the best sleep aids on the market right now? Is it right for you? Is it safe? You’ll have to read our full Genius Sleep Aid review below to find out!
Genius Sleep Aid Ingredients
Here is Genius Sleep Aid’s ingredients list:
Here is a breakdown of what each ingredient does, what it does – or doesn’t do – for sleep quality in humans, and what we think of the scientific evidence backing it up. Post any questions you have about these substances in the comments section at the end.
Glycine – 1g
Glycine is a proteinogenic amino acid. It is actually the simplest amino acid. It is involved in an extremely diverse array of bodily processes; producing collagen, producing muscle tissue, synthesizing DNA, digestion, and much more.
Studies have shown that Glycine supplementation improves sleep quality. It seems that it works in a number of different ways – boosting serotonin production, reducing body temperature, peripheral vasodilation, and NDMA receptor activation (source). It is unclear just how much of an effect on sleep that Glycine has, but it seems to be a reliable and proven sleep enhancer.
Genius Sleep Aid provides a fairly decent dose of Glycine – 1g per serving. That said, Glycine is present in large amounts in the human diet. Whenever there is lots of protein, there’s lots of glycine. Supplementation is never going to have much of an impact.
L-Theanine – 100mg
Theanine is a great substance to add to a natural sleeping stack. This amino acid promotes relaxation – both physical and mental. It soothes muscular pain, reduces feelings of anxiety, calms the mind, and attenuates some of the effects of caffeine. Theanine has been shown in clinical trials to significantly reduce sleep latency (the time it takes to fall asleep after going to bed).
If you aren’t consuming much caffeine, then you don’t need much theanine. However, for most people the 100mg in Genius Sleep Aid isn’t going to be enough. Not for optimal effects at least.
Rutaecarpine – 100mg
Rutacarpine is a natural plant extract said to have a wide variety of benefits. It has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine – the whole plant has anyway. Some recent studies found that rutaecarpine decreased serum caffeine levels in mice. It seems that rutaecarpine supplementation might ‘flush’ any lingering caffeine in your system out through your urine. However, this is a big ‘might’ – thus far no human studies have been done.
If rutaecarpine turns out to be an effective way to get rid of any caffeine left in your system which might be keeping you awake at night, then it will be a fantastic sleep aid. But until we see some robust human trials, we’re not going to get too excited by it. We don’t think it deserves to be used in Genius Sleep Aid.
Inositol – 100mg
Inositol is not a very common ingredient in natural sleeping supplements. But this isn’t because it doesn’t do anything; it just isn’t flavour of the month. Inositol can have a significant effect on the quality and duration of your sleep, as well as the time it takes you to fall asleep each night. Rather than directly promoting sleep-inducing hormones like melatonin, inositol has a much more indirect mechanism of action. Studies have found that inositol can reverse desensitization of serotonin receptors. Basically, it makes your defunct serotonin receptors work again. This means a better mood, reduced anxiety, and drastically better sleep quality.
One thing we will say about the inositol in Genius Sleep Aid is that we don’t get much of it. Inositol is found in many plant foods. To get any kind of meaningful effect, you need to be consuming a lot of it. 100mg just isn’t enough!
Melatonin – 0.5mg
Melatonin is the hormone which controls your sleeping patterns. Melatonin makes you feel sleepy at night, high concentrations in the brain make your sleep deeper, and an absence of melatonin allows you to wake up in the morning. Melatonin release happens at specific times each day. However, due to things like travel, blue light exposure, or unhealthy habits, our sleeping patterns can get out of whack. Supplementing with melatonin is great way to not only promote deep, restful sleep, but also to fix a disruptive sleeping cycle.
Again though, we’re surprised at how much melatonin we get from Genius Sleep Aid – just 0.5mg. This compares very badly to the standard 2mg we get from most good quality sleep supplements. Ideally we’d like to see a large dose of a natural melatonin source.
Our Thoughts On The Genius Sleep Aid Formula
The Genius Brand is a giant of the supplement industry. As such, we expected a lot from Genius Sleep Aid.
While it isn’t a bad sleep supplement, we didn’t quite get what we were hoping for.
The formula contains a couple of excellent ingredients which will definitely help you get a better night’s sleep.
Theanine reduces sleep latency while melatonin promotes high quality sleep. Inositol can help quell anxiety and promote relaxation. Together, these ingredients can dramatically improve the quality, duration, and timing of your sleep. Genius Sleep Aid can therefore have you feeling energized and refreshed each and every morning.
But is this the best sleep stack on the market right now?
No, not by a long shot.
Glycine takes up the majority of the formula. We don’t doubt that glycine helps with sleep quality in numerous ways. What we doubt is whether or not 1g of supplemental glycine will make a blind bit of difference.
Glycine is highly prevalent in practically all foods. It is the simplest amino acid. An extra gram of the stuff before bed isn’t going to put you into a deep slumber.
Rutaecarpine is completely untested on humans. We have a couple of rodent studies which make this look like a promising anti-caffeine agent. But until we see some robust human trials, we will remain doubtful.
Then there’s the tiny dose of synthetic melatonin. Even low quality sleep aids today provide 2-3mg of melatonin. But Genius Sleep Aid gives you just 0.5mg. That’s pretty disappointing.
If you want to try Genius Sleep Aid – whether it’s because you’re loyal to the brain or because you like Inositol – then we see no reason why you shouldn’t.
But if you want optimal results and maximal value for money, we recommend using a different stack. Genius Sleep Aid just doesn’t cut it in today’s market.
Side Effects – Is Genius Sleep Aid Safe?
The big appeal of natural sleep aids is that they do not come with the same side effect risks as synthetic sleeping pills – sedation, intoxication, nausea, grogginess, and addiction.
Genius Sleep Aid doesn’t look like it is going to cause any of these problems.
The ingredients are not thought to pose any serious side effect risks at all.
There are no sedatives in here either, so you don’t need to be worried about grogginess or sleeping for too long. It is designed to put you into a nice, natural state of sleep, not to knock you out.
However, it is true that Rutaecarpine is untested in humans. We only have rodent studies to go on. It has a long history of use as a whole plant in traditional medicines. But use of a concentrated extract – which is what it is – is a different ball game.
We advise you to do plenty of research on this substance before using it. If you have any doubts, you must talk to a qualified health professional.
In Conclusion – Is Genius Sleep Aid Right For You?
There are some really good reasons to use Genius Sleep Aid.
It delivers reasonable doses of some effective sleep-enhancing substances.
Side effects don’t look like they’re going to be a big concern.
It covers multiple different aspects of sleep – quality, latency, duration, and more.
But there are plenty of reasons not to choose Genius Sleep Aid.
It doesn’t provide anywhere near enough melatonin. Each serving gives you just 0.5mg; that’s about a sixth of the melatonin we get from most sleep supplements on the market right now! Even the cheap, nasty sleep stacks provide more melatonin than this.
Melatonin is the backbone of every sleep supplement. Under-dosing it is not excusable. Especially when you’re just using basic, synthetic melatonin like Genius Sleep Aid does.
Glycine is not very effective – it is present in large amounts in most foods, so supplementing doesn’t do a great deal.
Rutaecarpine is untested in humans.
All-in-all, there are more flaws to the Genius Sleep Aid formula than there are strengths.
We think most people will see meaningful improvements in sleep quality and duration while using this stack. But we also think you can do better. That’s true regardless of your goals or priorities.
See Our #1 Rated Sleep Aid
Performance Lab Sleep
This is easily the best natural sleep aid on sale today. It is extremely simple yet extremely powerful. It covers every aspect of sleep enhancement:
- Reduced sleep latency
- Promotes deeper, more restful sleep
- Supports cell maintenance while you sleep
READ OUR FULL REVIEW
Brian Johnson is a former academic researcher, psychologist, and tireless proponent of bio-hacking. Brian has dedicated all of his time since leaving academia and private practice to promoting the benefits to be obtained from the application of biotechnology and bio-hacking supplements. He has years of experience with nootropics, as well as prebiotics, probiotics, and other natural nutritional supplements.
Leave a Reply