When you have trouble falling or staying asleep, it can severely impact your mental health. While the occasional sleepless night is no big deal, extended periods of poor sleep quality can end up causing extreme distress, worsen depression, and even cause issues like high blood pressure or a panic disorder.
The most common sleep disorder is insomnia; anxiety and insomnia go hand in hand, as anxiety symptoms often make it difficult to fall asleep. As a result, treating insomnia can often be made much easier if you focus on combating the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder first.
Simple steps like lowering body temperature can be an effective short-term treatment. Many people will also turn to pharmacological treatment, like prescription medicines, which can cause issues like withdrawal symptoms. That is why natural supplements are often the safest, most effective options.
The only issue is that OTC sleep aids contain unusual ingredients, so it can be hard to know which to pick, mainly as particular natural sleep aids work better than other medications. That is why we have made our guide to the best OTC sleep aids for anxiety and insomnia to help everyone get a good night’s sleep.
The Best Sleep Aids for Adults With Anxiety
RestAgain – The Best Natural Sleep Aid For Adults With Anxiety Disorders Overall
RestAgain is a natural sleep medicine produced by FA Nutra. It has been popular in the United Kingdom for a while now but has recently seen its popularity soar since its release in the United States.
It is made with only optimal doses of high-quality, scientifically proven natural ingredients and aims to help people fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and enjoy a good night’s sleep and a healthy sleep cycle without putting them at an increased risk of experiencing any complications or adverse effects.
The RestAgain formula features ashwagandha root, l-theanine, magnesium, valerian root, GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), 5-htp (5-hydroxytryptophan), calcium, melatonin, vitamin b6, vitamin b12, and vitamin d.
Secreted by the pineal gland in the human brain, the hormone melatonin regulates your sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin supplements boost melatonin production and levels to help people fall asleep and enter REM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep, the most restful kind) quickly, so you wake up refreshed.
Ashwagandha and 5-htp induce relaxation and a feeling of calmness, and they are at their most effective when taken in a dietary supplement containing them both.
Ashwagandha extract is produced from the roots of the evergreen winter cherry shrub. It can reduce stress, anxiety, and blood sugar levels and improve sleep quality, concentration, focus, memory, sleep health, and testosterone production.
5-htp is an amino acid that can cross the blood-brain barrier and stimulate the pineal gland. This will boost your natural production of a serotonin neurotransmitter, helping to induce sleep, improve sleep quality and mood, and reduce stress, anxiety, and sleep disorders.
The amino acid l-theanine will help you feel calm and relaxed while improving your immune system, brain function, and health. This will lead to more restful sleep and help prevent the side effects of any stimulants you may have used, stopping them from causing sleep disturbances.
The neurotransmitter GABA acts as a melatonin receptor agonist, so it can help you feel relaxed while aiding anxiety and stress reduction. Valerian root extract boosts your natural GABA production and furthers these benefits, so the two work exceptionally well in natural sleep aids that contain them.
Calcium and magnesium minerals improve sleep quality. Taking calcium and magnesium supplements promotes calmness, relaxation, happiness, and REM sleep, soothes the muscles, aids sleep onset, and prevents cramping, low blood pressure, and other health issues that lead to inadequate sleep.
RestAgain also uses magnesium oxide and magnesium glycinate, which is more effective than the sources that some other medications use, such as magnesium citrate and magnesium chloride.
Vitamins b6 and b12 will both enhance your neurotransmitter biosynthesis, brain health, metabolic rate, circadian rhythm, recovery time, and testosterone production, treat depression and mental disorders, and boost your overall well-being, all of which will lead to standard sleep patterns and restful sleep.
Vitamin D will then improve your mood, nutrient absorption, and recovery time, promote relaxation, and prevent you from becoming vitamin D deficient and developing the health issues accompanying it. This will ensure you do not have trouble falling asleep or maintaining a healthy sleep schedule.
RestAgain can promote sleep improvements from every angle by using various ingredients. It will prevent you from having trouble sleeping or experiencing poor sleep quality so that you wake up feeling refreshed, which research suggests will treat depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
You combine these incredible effects on anxiety and insomnia with a very reasonable price tag and serving size. RestAgain is the best natural sleeping pill to help alleviate symptoms of all three conditions simultaneously to ensure you enjoy a restful night’s sleep.
Pros
- The most potent natural sleep supplement available over the counter
- Will not cause any adverse reactions, side effects, or rebound symptoms
- Uses only optimal doses of high-quality, clinically proven natural ingredients that work well together
- It boasts a very reasonable price tag
- It helps you fall asleep, stay asleep, and enjoy better sleep quality
Cons
- Being a new sleep supplement means reviews from past customers are pretty limited.
- Can only be purchased directly from the official RestAgain website
Luna Sleep Aid – The Best Organic Sleep Supplement To Treat Anxiety And Insomnia
Luna Sleep Aid is an herbal supplement from Nested Naturals containing only 100 percent organic ingredients. It is designed to make falling asleep, sleeping deeply, and waking up feeling completely refreshed and reinvigorated as easy.
The Luna Sleep Aid formula contains l-theanine, valerian root extract, chamomile extract, lemon balm extract, passionflower extract, hops extract, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and melatonin.
The GABA, l-theanine, melatonin, and valerian root extract were all present in RestAgain. Due to the different dosages, they will serve the same functions again here, albeit at differing levels.
They reduce stress and anxiety, boost brain health and functions, help you feel calm and relaxed, make falling asleep and entering REM sleep much easier, and stop any stimulants you may have taken during the day from keeping you awake to make sure you wake up feeling fresh and energetic each day.
Chamomile extract is a popular ingredient in natural sleep supplements as it contains a chemical called apigenin. Known for its calming properties, apigenin can reduce stress and anxiety levels, help you relax, and treat many issues that lead to people having trouble sleeping.
Lemon balm extract comes from a mint family plant rich in minerals and vitamin C. There is evidence that it can induce a sensation of calmness, so it is sometimes used to treat insomnia, anxiety, and certain other sleep disorders to help improve your sleep quality.
Passionflower extract is put in some non-prescription sleep aids as it may be able to treat anxiety, insomnia, seizures, and other mental health issues. This increases your natural GABA production, making relaxing and falling asleep significantly easier.
Finally, Hops extract has antioxidant properties that can help relieve anxiety, depression, stress, and tension, treat insomnia, and prevent sleep disturbances. This would make falling asleep and enjoying a healthy sleep-wake cycle much more accessible.
There are, however, a couple of issues with the Luna Sleep Aid that we do need to mention.
Not only is more research needed on some of the ingredients to prove they are helpful in sleep aids, but those that are proven are mainly present in doses that are too low for them to deliver optimal results. Hops extract may also make you hungry, keeping some people awake.
These issues aside, though, if you seek a natural sleep supplement that contains only organic ingredients and does not cause side effects or require a prescription, the Luna Sleep Aid can still be one of the best non-prescription medications for you to try.
Pros
- It contains several ingredients proven to be very effective in sleep supplements.
- Very reasonably priced
- Its ingredients are 100% organic and will not cause any side effects.
Cons
- Some of the ingredients have not been conclusively proven to work
- Many of the doses are too low to produce the optimal effects the ingredients are capable of
- There have been complaints about the supplement having an unpleasant taste and smell.
Olly Sleep Gummies – The Best Sleep Gummies To Treat Anxiety And Insomnia
Olly Sleep Gummies are intended to be a pleasant-tasting, enjoyable-to-use gummy supplement with a delightful Blackberry Zen flavor. This makes them an ideal natural sleep supplement for anyone who does not like or has trouble swallowing pills or capsules.
Olly Sleep Gummies contain only natural, gluten-free ingredients, which we have already examined, although the dosages here are pretty different. They are made using a formula that consists of melatonin, l-theanine, chamomile flower extract, lemon balm extract, and passionflower extract.
These are then joined by various natural colors, flavors, sweeteners, and stabilizers, used exclusively to create the gummies’ bulk, texture, and flavor rather than add health benefits.
Melatonin and l-theanine will again prevent sleep issues by promoting rest, relaxation, and REM sleep, improving the health and functions of your immune and nervous systems, regulating your sleep-wake cycle, and preventing issues like daytime drowsiness or rebound fatigue.
Chamomile flower extract relieves anxiety, inflammation, insomnia, sleep issues, and stress, helps you feel calm and relaxed, improves sleep latency and duration, and optimizes your sleep-wake cycle without putting you at risk of experiencing any side effects.
Lemon balm extract promotes relaxation, better mood and brain functions, and lower stress and anxiety levels.
Passionflower extract boosts your natural GABA production and has sedating effects, treats anxiety, chronic insomnia, hysteria, and seizures, and makes falling asleep and enjoying uninterrupted sleep significantly easier.
There are, again, a few issues with Olly Sleep Gummies that we need to discuss.
For starters, lemon balm extract and passionflower extract have not been proven to work. The dosages of chamomile flower extract, l-theanine, and melatonin are too low to produce optimal effects. Some older adults have also complained about the gummies getting stuck in their teeth.
Despite these issues, though, if you are looking for a reasonably priced natural sleep supplement that is enjoyable to use and does not cause side effects or require you to swallow any capsules or pills, then Olly Sleep Gummies are one of the very best options that you have available to try.
Pros
- Three of its ingredients have been proven to help you sleep
- An ideal choice for people who can’t or don’t like swallowing sleeping pills or tablets
- Gluten-free and very reasonably priced
- Very unlikely to cause any side effects
Cons
- Two of its ingredients have not been conclusively proven to help you sleep
- All the proven ingredients are present in doses that are too low to produce optimal effects
- Some older adults have complained about the gummies getting stuck in their teeth
Dr Teal’s Sleep Spray – The Best Sleep Spray To Treat Anxiety And Insomnia
When dealing with anxiety symptoms, you will not want to do anything that makes you more anxious, which is valid for many people regarding dietary supplements, even if they are natural. In that case, Dr Teal’s Sleep Spray With Melatonin & Essential Oils is worth looking into.
Designed with what the manufacturers call a soothing blend of ingredients, this natural sleep inducer is intended to be sprayed in the area around your bed shortly before you go to sleep rather than ingested.
Dr Teal’s Sleep Spray With Melatonin & Essential Oils contains melatonin, Epsom salts, patchouli oil, lavender and chamomile essential oils, water, perfume, and various stabilizers, such as benzoic acid, which they say will help you relax, fall asleep, enjoy better sleep quality, and wake up feeling fresh.
As we’ve already seen, melatonin and chamomile can induce feelings of calmness and relaxation, help you fall asleep faster, sleep deeper and longer, enjoy a better sleep cycle, and ease anxiety, stress, and sleep problems so that you wake up feeling fresh and reinvigorated every morning.
Epsom salts are a blend of magnesium, sulfur, and oxygen that are claimed to regulate sleep cycles, reduce anxiety and stress, boost relaxation, sleep latency, and wound and skin healing, soothe and repair sore bones, joints, and muscles, and improve the health of the nervous and digestive systems.
Lavender is a common purple flower, and its extract is said to induce a sensation of calmness and relaxation, produce a mild sedative effect, encourage better quality sleep, combat mild sleep issues, and reduce muscle and joint tension and soreness, to enhance the overall quality of sleep you get.
Patchouli oil is extracted from dry patchouli leaves. It is said to combat anxiety, colds, depression, headaches, inflammation, injuries, stress, and stomach aches and pains; boost relaxation, digestion, skin, joint, and hair health; suppress appetite; and help you sleep better and lose weight faster.
Again, not everything is perfect with Dr Teal’s Sleep Spray With Melatonin & Essential Oils. Most ingredients are more effective when ingested, many need to be studied in more depth to prove they work conclusively, and a lack of any listed doses means it’s hard to know exactly how the spray will work.
Despite that, though, if you mainly do not want to ingest anything but still need help sleeping, Dr Teal’s Sleep Spray With Melatonin & Essential Oils is worth trying, especially as it has a low price tag and the perfume smells great, so can help you feel even more relaxed on its own.
Pros
- Leaves a pleasant, relaxing, long-lasting smell in your sleeping area
- It can induce a sensation of calmness and relaxation
- Ideal for people who do not want to ingest anything
Cons
- It is only suitable to help tackle mild sleep issues
- Some people experienced vivid dreams that woke them up and hurt their sleep cycle
- Some of the ingredients are not proven to aid sleep without ingesting them, while others aren’t proven to aid sleep at all
Fenotrex – The Best Natural Sleep Aid To Treat Anxiety And Insomnia On A Budget
Fenotrex is a natural sleep supplement from the Health Research Institute. They claim it is fast-acting, promotes restful sleep, relaxation, and better concentration and sleep patterns, combats anxiety, insomnia, and overstimulation, and prevents daytime drowsiness, exhaustion, and sleep disruptions.
The Fenotrex formula is additive-free and contains calcium, magnesium, vitamin b6, and a proprietary blend of valerian root extract, hops flower extract, skullcap extract, chamomile flower extract, GABA, passionflower extract, l-taurine, and inositol, the total doses of which all fit into a single pill.
We have seen most of these before, albeit in different doses, in the other supplements we have looked at, and they will again all do the same jobs to some degree. We then have three new ingredients.
A skullcap is a flowering plant in the mint family that is claimed to boost your mood, reduce anxiety and inflammation, improve brain, heart, and immune health and functions, and treat chronic insomnia.
The amino acid l-taurine promotes optimal brain, eye, heart, muscle, and nervous system health and functions, reduces “bad” LDL cholesterol levels, aids fat burning and weight loss, and improves overall health. At the same time, some studies say it combats insomnia as well.
Inositol is a natural sugar some studies say may regulate blood sugar and cholesterol levels and insulin sensitivity, boost weight loss, serotonin production, and your mood, treat polycystic ovary syndrome, diabetes, high blood pressure, and stress, and make it easier to relax and drift off to sleep.
Again, There are some issues with Fenotrex, as most of its ingredients are either present in too low dosages or need more research to prove that they work conclusively. However, this should not be too surprising, given its price tag, and most supplements in this price range have similar issues.
So, while it will not be suitable for everyone, Fenotrex can still be a helpful sleep supplement for adults suffering from anxiety and insomnia who are shopping on a very tight budget.
Pros
- Features a collection of ingredients proven to combat anxiety and insomnia
- One of the cheapest natural sleep aids on the market
- It has a minimal serving size
Cons
- Can only be bought directly from the official Fenotrex website
- Reviews from past users are hard to find
- Some of the ingredients are not conclusively proven to combat anxiety and insomnia.
- Most of the proven ingredients are present in doses that are too low to produce optimal effects.
Final Thoughts On The Best Sleep Aids for Adults With Anxiety
While prescription sleeping medications can be very effective for treating insomnia and generalized anxiety disorder, natural sleep aids are often just as effective while being far safer. There are several good natural sleep aids on the market for you to try, although the best one for most will be RestAgain.
Packed with optimal doses of a wide range of scientifically proven natural ingredients, RestAgain can combat sleep problems and complex sleep behaviors like most prescription medications while being reasonably priced and not causing issues like withdrawal symptoms.
If, for any reason, you feel it is not the best choice to combat anxiety and insomnia for you, then one of the other natural sleep aids on our list surely will be. For everyone else, though, we highly recommend you try RestAgain and see how much easier it can make falling asleep each night for yourself.
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