Performance Lab Sleep Review: Does It Really Work?

There’s a major sleep crisis in America right now, with nearly 40% of Americans failing to achieve the recommended 7-9 hours’ sleep each night.

Too little sleep can be damaging to your mental, physical and emotional health.

It can make you gain weight, struggle to be at peak performance the next day and even potentially impact your mortality.

More than $400 billion is lost in earnings each year in the U.S. as a result of sleep deprivation, so it’s no wonder natural sleep supplements like Performance Lab Sleep are big business right now.

Here’s one thing to note about Performance Lab Sleep from the start: it contains an all-natural form of melatonin, the famous ‘sleep hormone’.

In a market where even so-called natural sleep aids tend to use synthetic forms of melatonin, it stands out from the rest.

But does that make it more effective?

Let’s find out.

Performance Lab Sleep is one of a range of complementary supplements created by British manufacturer Opti-Nutra, which does business in the UK with products created in the U.S. under strict GMP conditions.

The sleep supplement is one of its ‘core’ products, alongside Performance Lab Whole-Food Multivitamin and tailor-made supplements called Energy, Mind, Prebiotic and Vision.

Opti-Nutra also offers a sports-led range of supplements.

It’s fair to say that the company has made a name for itself as the creator of credible, high-quality products that combine proven ingredients with the latest nutritional science.

Performance Lab describes the Sleep product as “nightly regeneration support for peak daytime performance”, recognizing that a good night’s sleep impacts your daily life as well.

The Sleep formula centers around supporting the natural production of melatonin in the body.

This is the hormone that is produced as darkness approaches and which tells your body that it’s time to sleep.

Such production can be interrupted, however, by the many forms of blue light – from tablets, laptops, computers and telephones – that we surround ourselves with.

Performance Lab Sleep, therefore, aims to replace that missing melatonin with an equally natural source.

It also encourages the production of serotonin, which helps to relax your nervous system and further boost the body’s own supply of melatonin.

Let’s look at the ingredients to see if they fulfil this promise.

Magnesium 100 mg (as Magnesium Bis-glycinate 300mg, Magnesium Taurate 200mg & Whole-Food NutriGenesis™ Magnesium 30mg)

Magnesium is a genuine wonder mineral when it comes to sleep.

It helps to calm your muscles and nervous system ready for a good night’s rest.

It also helps to lower blood pressure by relaxing your blood vessels and reduces the amount of involuntary movement that occurs during the night, which helps you to sleep better.

Together with L-tryptophan, magnesium helps to produce serotonin which then further stimulates the production of melatonin.

Performance Lab use a patented process called NutriGenesis to produce their vitamins and minerals, including magnesium, which it claims creates more natural and bioavailable ingredients in a controlled laboratory environment.

Montmorency Tart Cherry (CherryPURE) (50:1) 500 mg

Tart Cherry is the richest natural source of melatonin, and the variety that is found in Performance Lab Sleep, CherryPURE, is highly purified and concentrated. In fact, 500mg of CherryPURE Montmorency Tart Cherry provides as much goodness as you would get from eating around 10 actual cherries.

Your body already produces melatonin naturally when it is preparing for sleep.

However, melatonin production is triggered by darkness. As most of us live in houses full of unnatural light sources, it is possible that this process of melatonin release gets interrupted.

By supplementing with additional melatonin, we give our bodies the chance to return to a more natural sleep cycle that is in sync with our circadian rhythm.

Supplementing your melatonin levels leads to faster onset of sleep.

Using a natural source such as tart cherry over a synthetic source means your body can more easily process the extra melatonin.

Tart cherry also contains a high percentage of antioxidants which help to increase sleep quality by relaxing your muscles and joints.

Worth noting: Performance Lab Sleep is potentially a good choice for those people who are particularly sensitive to stand-alone (mostly synthetic) melatonin supplements.

Many such supplements contain more melatonin than is really needed, leading to common side-effects, such as feeling dizzy and drowsy the next day, headaches, short-term depression, irritability and stomach cramps.

The lower dose and natural nature of the melatonin in Performance Lab Sleep shouldn’t cause the same effects.

L-Tryptophan (TryptoPure®) 250 mg

A key ingredient that underpins the success of the entire formula and allows it to work effectively, L-tryptophan is an essential amino acid that is not produced naturally in your body.

It must either be supplemented or gained through foods such as red meat, eggs, yoghurt, cottage cheese and chocolate.

Once in your system, L-tryptophan is altered into 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) which is then transformed into serotonin and melatonin, the two main sleep hormones, as well as vitamin B6.

By helping the magnesium to work more quickly and effectively to produce serotonin, you could argue that L-tryptophan is the glue that holds this formula together.

Performance Lab aims to produce supplements that complement the way your body works.

Performance Lab Sleep does not use sedatives or other ingredients that could produce unwanted side-effects like grogginess in the morning or restless sleep.

Instead, its Sleep formula helps to enhance and regulate the production of the natural sleep hormone melatonin and the relaxing hormone serotonin.

It works with your body to produce more of both as opposed to simply supplementing it.

The magnesium, for instance, acts as a cofactor in the conversion of the L-Tryptophan to serotonin.

As stress and mood imbalances can be major barriers to sleep, this serotonin is particularly useful in helping you to relax before bed.

The L-Tryptophan also works together with the Montmorency tart cherry to boost the sleep hormone melatonin. By effectively raising serotonin levels, this stimulates the production of melatonin by the pineal gland.

Thus, providing additional melatonin AND encouraging your body’s own production of it.

According to the company, Performance Lab Sleep “promotes sleep onset, reduces sleep-disruptive muscle spasms, extends regenerative sleep phases, helps rejuvenate body and mind”.

Another benefit of Performance Lab Sleep is that the feel-good feeling you get from the extra serotonin won’t just be present at nighttime.

Boosting your serotonin levels should help you to feel more relaxed throughout the day as well.

Performance Lab recommend you take 2 – 4 capsules between 45 and 60 minutes before sleep. You should do this daily and consistently for the best results.

You will get the best results from Performance Lab Sleep when you combine it with a healthy bedtime routine, such as:

• Aiming to go to bed at the same time every night.
• Sleeping for between 7 and 8 hours each night, not any longer.
• Exercising during the day, the earlier in the day the better.
• Not using screens for an hour before going to bed.
• Avoiding caffeine and alcohol before bed.
• Keeping your bedroom dark and cool.
• Relaxing before bed – read, meditate or do anything restful to help your muscles and nervous system unwind.

Overall the natural formula in Performance Lab Sleep is likely to be safe for a healthy adult to take on a regular basis, with one or two exceptions which are noted below.

• Tart Cherry has very few side effects associated with it, so this is likely safe for anyone who is not allergic to cherries. Being a more natural form of melatonin should mean you avoid the side effects associated with high doses of synthetic melatonin seen in other sleep supplements.
• Magnesium is designated as being likely safe to take by mouth for most adults up to the recommended daily allowance of 350mg. The amount of magnesium in Performance Lab® Sleep is 100mg, so well below the 350mg recommended daily allowance.

Thanks to its natural ingredients, Performance Lab Sleep shouldn’t be habit forming

Performance Lab Sleep is only available to purchase via the official website, so you won’t find any customer reviews on Amazon or elsewhere.

That said, the product has been very highly rated by almost every independent website, blogger and review site that has featured the product.

If you are interested in trying Performance Lab Sleep, or learn more about the specific line of supplements, you will find more on the official Performance Lab website: www.performancelab.com.

Prices above do not include shipping costs, but there are many shipping options available, and free shipping on orders over $200.

See below how the official site looks like.

Performance Lab offer a 60-day moneyback guarantee on your first order.

This applies to used or unused products.

They will also refund any unused products providing you contact them within 7 days of your item being delivered.

Performance Lab Sleep is a straightforward combination of natural ingredients that are balanced to support the onset of sleep in a natural way.

It is a premium product, both in terms of its quality and its price tag, but can you really put a price on a great night’s sleep?

We’ll leave that to you!

We laid out the facts, will you buy Performance Lab Sleep? Comment below and tell us what you think!