March 26, 2024
Fall Asleep Faster and Wake Up Refreshed – with Erik Kennison
Welcome back to another episode of the NatureCity Podcast,...
Sleep science advances indicate it’s not just the number of hours of sleep that matters, but the quality of that sleep too. The scientifically studied ingredients in TrueZs can help you in both areas.
The Suntheanine® L-theanine can help reduce the time it takes to fall asleep and reduces sleep disturbances during the night. It works by promoting dopamine and GABA in the brain, which helps increase alpha brain waves, which are associated with a relaxed mental state.
The Shoden® Ashwagandha complements this action by helping the body recover from daily stressors.
Many of the effects of Shoden® are experienced over a period of weeks and include helping to promote a more restful nights sleep and increase beneficial restorative sleep, helping you wake up refreshed without drowsiness, helping improve the quantity of sleep, and reducing the number of awakenings during the night.
The Affron® saffron extract supports the body’s natural melatonin production and helps improve sleep quality, while promoting better moods upon awakening. The ingredients in TrueZs do not cause drowsiness and help you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to start the day.
Not all sleep is the same, and even if you’re sleeping 7 to 8 hours nightly, you may be struggling to get enough of the most important type of sleep, which is called restorative sleep.
After working hard all day to keep you functioning and active, your body uses sleep to recover.
This doesn’t just mean “recharging your batteries”, your body also uses this time to eliminate toxins, fight oxidative stress and repair itself. A lot of this happens in the restorative sleep mode, which largely occurs when your body is in the deep sleep stage of the sleep cycle. Plus, with greater restorative sleep, you’ll wake up feeling more refreshed.
A key feature of the TrueZs formula is each of the 3 ingredients can help you improve restorative sleep as part of helping you sleep better at night. The calming effects of Suntheanine® help soothe your racing mind, promoting a deep regenerative sleep.
The balancing effects of Shoden® helped users increase restorative sleep by 42%, on average after 6 weeks in one study. Similarly, Affron® helps promote restorative sleep as part of supporting better sleep quality.
In the first week, the TrueZs ingredients may help you fall asleep a little faster as they help your brain relax, but typically it takes at least 2 to 4 weeks to start experiencing restorative sleep improvements – so give it some time.
Melatonin is sometimes called the “sleep hormone” because it helps synchronize the sleep-wake cycle. In the evening, melatonin levels in the blood start to rise as your body senses it’s getting close to bedtime.
The melatonin your body makes helps you fall asleep, and after a few hours (typically in the early morning), your melatonin levels start to fall. A recent study with the Affron® saffron extract found that saffron helps the body synthesize (or produce) enzymes that can convert the amino acid tryptophan into melatonin.
This is believed to be key reason why Affron® can help users reduce the time it takes to fall asleep and improve sleep quality.
Better yet, Affron® does not cause morning or daytime drowsiness, which is sometimes experienced by those taking synthetic melatonin supplements. The delicate balance of the sleep/wake cycle circadian rhythm is best managed by the body.
As such, we believe that supporting the body’s natural production of melatonin with the Affron® in TrueZs is preferable to taking synthetic melatonin hormone supplements for most individuals. Your body knows how much melatonin it needs, and saffron can help support melatonin production, so it’s available when needed.
Individual Results May Vary
View All ReviewsSince ancient times, drinking green tea has been used to promote relaxation. Modern science attributes the relaxation effect of green tea to the presence of the amino acid L-theanine.
Suntheanine® L-theanine is an award-winning, patented, scientific studied ingredient from Taiyo International in Japan. Almost all of the original published scientific studies and safety/toxicity studies conducted on L-theanine specifically used the Suntheanine® brand.
It’s made using a patented enzymatic process that mimics how green tea creates L-theanine and is non-GMO.
Suntheanine® can help quiet and soothe your racing mind so you can fall asleep more easily. It promotes a deep, regenerative sleep so you can feel refreshed and rejuvenated in the morning. Suntheanine® acts quickly, and its effects on relaxation can be felt within 30-60 minutes.
Suntheanine® can cross the blood-brain barrier and works by helping to increase dopamine and GABA levels in the brain.
This increases alpha brain waves, which are associated with a relaxed mental state, and decreases beta-waves, which are associated with an awake, excited state.
These changes in the mental state help reduce sleep latency (time it takes to go from awake to asleep) and sleep disturbances and promote a better quality of sleep –without drowsiness.
TrueZs contains the full 200mg of Suntheanine® L-theanine that research found works best. Here’s how the Suntheanine® in TrueZs can help sleep quality:
Ashwagandha is a revered herb in the traditional Ayuvedic system of medicine in India. Ashwagandha helps support the body’s ability to recover from stress while creating an overall feeling of balance and normalization. Modern research is validating many potential benefits of ashwagandha.
Shoden® Ashwagandha is an innovative extract made from both the roots and leaves of the plant to maximize the amount of beneficial nutritional compounds.
Shoden® is a high potency, bioactive extract, containing what is believed to be an industry leading 35% withanolide glycosides (key class of nutritional compounds in ashwagandha).
This allows Shoden® to offer desired benefits in smaller serving sizes. Using both the roots and leaves to make Shoden® also helps to promote sustainability because it results in greater plant utilization.
Research with Shoden® Ashwagandha found that taking 120mg may help sleep in these ways:
Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice because harvesting saffron requires a labor intensive hand-picking process. Saffron comes from crocus sativus flowers.
Affron® is a premium quality and very pure saffron. The maker, Pharmactive, is fully integrated and handles every step of production locally in Spain, right down to final shipping. The saffron fields are in the plateau La Mancha, a beautiful part of central Spain with fertile soil.
Only traditional farming methods are used in the cultivation of saffron – and flowers are handpicked at peak potency.
Research with Affron® shows it helps you cope with stress, supports balanced moods and when taken before bedtime, it helps increase sleep quality and promotes restorative sleep.
An important reason why Affron® can help you sleep better is it helps support the natural production of evening melatonin in the body. It works by helping the body synthesize (or produce) enzymes that can convert the amino acid tryptophan into melatonin.
Better yet, Affron® does not cause morning or daytime drowsiness, which is sometimes experienced by those taking synthetic melatonin supplements. The delicate balance of the sleep/wake cycle circadian rhythm is best managed by the body.
As such, we believe that supporting and stimulating the body’s natural production of melatonin with the Affron® in TrueZs is preferable to taking synthetic melatonin hormone supplements for most individuals.
Your body knows how much melatonin it needs, and saffron can help support melatonin production, so it’s available when needed.
Some of the sleep benefits you may experience with Affron® include:
In the first week, you may find TrueZs helps you fall asleep faster, which is due to the ingredients helping your brain relax as bedtime approaches. Many of the other sleep quality benefits, including promoting restorative and a more restful sleep, are typically experienced after 2 to 4 weeks of nightly use.
Most users find 1 capsule to be adequate, but if you find that 2 capsules in the evening works better for you, you can take the additional serving of TrueZs.
Another strategy is to try taking the second capsule during the day to help your body relax and cope with daytime stressors, so you start the night more relaxed. The ingredients in TrueZs do not cause drowsiness, and each also has been studied for daytime stress and mood support.
Melatonin is a hormone that’s part of a delicate system in the body that helps regulate when it’s time to sleep, and when it’s time to wake-up and start the day. Supplements with melatonin contain a synthetic form of the hormone.
When melatonin first became available as a supplement, it was not intended to be used nightly for extended periods of time. It was meant for occasional use – like when flying a long distance across many time zones to help reduce jet lag.
One of the concerns with taking melatonin regularly is your body gets used to receiving it as a supplement, and this may disrupt your body’s natural melatonin production – which isn’t a good thing for long term health.
That’s why we include the Affron® saffron extract in our TrueZs sleep formula. It helps support the natural production of evening melatonin in the body.
It works by helping the body synthesize (or produce) enzymes that can convert the amino acid tryptophan into melatonin. The sleep/wake cycle is a circadian rhythm that we feel is better managed by the body. Your body knows how much melatonin it needs, and saffron can help support melatonin production, so it’s available when needed.
Better yet, Affron® does not cause morning or daytime drowsiness, which is sometimes experienced by those taking synthetic melatonin supplements.
After working hard all day to keep you functioning and active, your body uses sleep to recover. This doesn’t just mean “recharging your batteries”, your body also uses this time to eliminate toxins, fight oxidative stress and repair itself.
A lot of this happens in the restorative sleep mode – which largely occurs when your body is in the deep sleep stage of the sleep cycle.
In case you’re not aware, the sleep cycle has 4 stages:
Stage 1 - Light Sleep (when you first doze off)
Stage 2 – Moderate Sleep (your body starts to cool down and heart rate slows)
Stage 3 – Deep Sleep (most restorative sleep occurs here)
Stage 4 – REM Sleep (brain activity picks up, most dreaming occurs)
This entire cycle takes about 90 minutes to complete, so during the night your body will complete this cycle around 5 separate times.
Each stage is important, but one of the goals of improving sleep quality is to increase the amount of time in the deep sleep stage so you can improve restorative sleep. Not only does this help your body recover, you’ll wake up feeling more refreshed and ready to start the day (with less drowsiness during the day).
Each of the 3 ingredients in the TrueZs formula can help you improve restorative sleep as part of helping you sleep better at night
TrueZs Supplement Facts
Serving Size: 1 Capsule / Servings per Container: 30
Amount Per Serving |
|
---|---|
L-Theanine (Suntheanine®) | 200 mg* |
Ashwagandha root and leaf extract (35% withanolide glycosides) (Shoden®) | 120 mg* |
Affron®: Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) stigmas extract [Std. to 3.5% Lepticrosalides® by HPLC] | 14 mg* |
*Daily value not established. | |
Other ingredients: Hypromellose, silica, stearic acid, and microcrystalline cellulose. |
Each serving of TrueZs consists of 1 veggie capsule. Take 1 serving with water.
For best support, take TrueZs 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime.
To help cope with stress and support mood during the daytime, a second serving can be taken in the morning or early afternoon (the TrueZs ingredients do not cause drowsiness). Or use as directed by your healthcare practitioner.
More information for those who like the finer details