Natural sleep ingredients: jujube, GABA, L-theanine and more.

Why look past melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone that tells your body it's night. Plenty of people would rather wind down without adding a hormone to their evening, so a whole category of "sleep drink, no melatonin" has grown up around amino acids, minerals and plant extracts instead. Some have decent human studies behind them. Some are mostly tradition. Here's which is which.

L-theanine: the calm from tea leaves

L-theanine is an amino acid found in tea. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 30 healthy adults took 200 mg a day for four weeks. Their sleep-quality scores improved compared with placebo, along with scores for stress and anxiety. It's a small study, but a clean one, and it's why Sleep Remedy coconut water carries exactly 200 mg.

Saffron: the evening spice

Saffron extract has some of the better sleep trials of any plant ingredient. In a four-week study of 120 adults who said they slept badly, a standardized extract taken about an hour before bed improved sleep-quality ratings and mood on waking compared with placebo. The 14 mg and 28 mg doses did about as well as each other. Sleep Remedy uses 28 mg.

Ergothioneine: the antioxidant that shows up for sleep

Ergothioneine is an antioxidant amino acid your body can't make; most of it comes from mushrooms. Most of its research is about protecting cells, but a randomized, placebo-controlled trial gave 20 mg a day for four weeks to people with sleep complaints and found they reported fewer sleep difficulties. Sleep Remedy carries 20 mg, and the Sleep Shot carries ergothioneine too. More in our ergothioneine guide.

GABA: popular, with early evidence

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a calming messenger in the brain, and it's also found in fermented foods like kimchi. Japanese "GABA drinks" are common. The human evidence is early: a small crossover study found about 100 mg before bed shortened the time it took to fall asleep, while a 2020 review of the trials called the sleep evidence very limited. Sleep Remedy has 100 mg, and the Sleep Shot carries GABA as well.

Magnesium: the mineral in every wind-down

Magnesium is an essential mineral your body uses for normal muscle and nerve function, and many people don't get enough of it from food. It turns up in almost every evening drink, including the viral "sleepy girl mocktail". The Sleep Shot has 50 mg. Sleep Remedy has 80 mg (19% of the Daily Value), on top of the magnesium that real coconut water already brings.

Jujube for sleep: fruit or seed?

Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba, the red date) has been in evening teas across Asia for centuries. Here's the honest part: the sleep research is on the seed, known in traditional Chinese medicine as suanzaoren, and mostly on herbal formulas that contain it. A 2018 review of 13 trials of those formulas found encouraging results, but the trials are small and the evidence is still limited. Boundless uses jujube fruit, for its soft, jammy taste and its place in the evening ritual, not as a sleep active.

Where you'll find them in Boundless

How to use them

Treat them as part of a wind-down, not a switch. Have the Sleep Shot or Sleep Remedy about an hour before bed, the timing used in the saffron study, then do the boring things that work: a dim room, a regular bedtime, and the phone somewhere else. The Sleep Shot is a 25 mL lavender shot sweetened with allulose, zero sugar. Sleep Remedy is 350 mL of real coconut water with a blueberry twist. Both launch in the US soon: the Sleep Shot at US$4.99 a shot and Sleep Remedy at US$4.49 a bottle.