Beyond Raw Anabolic Sleep

(1 customer review)

About

Beyond Raw Anabolic Sleep is a night-time sleep formula made by GNC. It was created to reduce stress, improve sleep quality and aid recovery.

GNC says the product contains L-theanine (as Suntheanine®) for its ability to promote relaxation, which could help you “cope with the stress of overwork and fatigue”.

The manufacturer also includes KSM-66 ashwagandha, which is said to help lower stress and support muscle growth. In addition, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is thought to relieve pain, stress and anxiety, which in turn could improve sleep quality.

Each bottle of Beyond Raw Anabolic Sleep contains 60 capsules. With a serving size of two capsules per day, this gives the user a 30-day supply.

Reviews

1 review for Beyond Raw Anabolic Sleep

  1. DaSlaya

    Not sure if my sleep was anabolic, but this sleep was raw!!

    —-Quick Summary—-
    A sleep aid that utilizes dual release technology to provide you with some real deep sleep. This did give me a sleep hangover each time, but I had almost the best sleep of my life on this. Priced a bit higher than the competitors in this field, but a well put together and effective sleep aid.
    —-Introduction—-
    38 years old and lift four days a week while doing physical therapy twice a week for my left ankle due to total reconstructive surgery. I got diagnosed with severe Sleep Apnea about 18 months ago, so I like to add in a sleep aid in my stack every now and again to assist me falling asleep with my mask on. I was browsing the Bounty vault and saw Anabolic Sleep on there, after checking out the label, I thought I would give it a shot. Lately I have found that GNC products have been working quite well for me, so I gave this a shot. Let us see how much this truly aided my sleep.
    —-Ingredient Profile—-
    Right off the bat you will see this has a fully disclosed label, which I almost require in my sleep aids these days, especially ones that contain Melatonin. I have been tricked in the past, so this is a must for me. Of note the pills utilize dual release technology. GNC’s other brand Performix is known to use this formula in their beads for powder, so this is the pill version. The cool part here is the ingredients are broken down based off when they are released. Let us discuss them: [b]Light Blue Layer: Relaxation & Stress Support (Immediate Release) 700mg[/b] [u]Levagen Palmitic Acid Monoethanolamide (300mg):[/u] Levagen is a patented ingredient by Gencor. Palmitic Acid supports comfort and a healthy anti-inflammatory response (GNC Website). I could not find too much on this, but there was concerns in the past of Palmitic Acid raising cholesterol levels. A 2002 study concluded that this had no impact on health. I am unsure of recommended dosage here, as this is a new ingredient to me. You can read more information on this here: https://www.livestrong.com/article/521518-palmitic-acid-health-benefits/ [u]L-Theanine (as Suntheanine) (200mg):[/u] Suntheanine is a registered trademark of Taiyo International inc. Theanine is a relaxing Amino Acid that is known to promote relaxation without sedation as well as reducing stress. Typically you see this around 100-200mg paired with Caffeine, but obviously being a sleep aid no caffeine is present. I have had up to 500mg in sleep aids in the past, as well as 200mg, so anything in that range seems fine to me. [u]KSM-66 Ashwagandha Root Extract (Withania Somnifera) (200mg):[/u] KSM-66 is a registered trademark of Ixoreai Biomed Inc. You have likely seen this ingredient before as it is quite popular. This is the first time I have seen this in a sleep aid. Ashwagandha is popularly known as the king of Ayurvedic herbs. Typically used as an “adaptogen” (for stress and anxiety relief), it may also provide neuroprotection, and is being researched for athletic performance as well. (EXAMINE.com) 300-500mg is the optimal dosage, so we are well covered with a total of 600mg. Interestingly enough it is recommended to take Ashwagandha with food, and first meal of the day. Obviously not the case here. [b]Deep Blue Layer: Sleep & Anabolic Support (Sustained Release) 503mg[/b] [u]KSM-66 Ashwagandha Root Extract (Withania Somnifera) (400mg):[/u] It is interesting how they seperated this one, but we already covered this. [u]GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) (100mg):[/u] This is a depressive neurotransmitter, that is used for stress relief and goes great with any NO increasing agents. Like a lot of ingredients out there more research needs to be conducted, but 3-5g of GABA is used for the purpose of enhancing growth hormone metabolism. Small dosage here, but really I believe this is here to relax you. This is a low dose than I am used to seeing in sleep aids, as usually this is around the 500mg range. [u]Melatonin (3mg):[/u] Melatonin is a hormone secreted in the brain that regulates sleep. It appears to be highly sensitive to Light Therapy and Dark Therapy. Oral ingestion of melatonin may be used as a sleep aid. It is non-addictive. (Examine.com) The key point here is that it is non-addictive. Doses from .5 – 5mg appear to be the most effective. I personally do not like to go higher than 5mg as anything higher than this is unnecessary and will just make you feel more groggy the next day. I like the dose here. The pills are two different colors based off the ingredients being released (see picture). This is a pretty unique set of ingredients for a sleep aid and nothing here really seems to be unnecessary. Not a bad profile overall.
    —-Taste/Mixability/Dosing—-
    [u]Taste/Mixability:[/u] Tablet form so no weird taste or smell. The tablets have a light blue side and a deep blue side, which I think looks pretty cool. They are medium to large size pills, so bear that in mind if you do not like swallowing big pills (see picture). [u]Dosing:[/u] The directions state to take one serving (2 tablets) 30-60 minutes before bedtime. If additional support is needed, you can take up to two servings. I personally never took more than one serving, as I found that worked great as is.
    —-Effectiveness—-
    If you have seen any of my reviews on this site, you will know that I review quite a bit of sleep aids. I love the ones that work well. I will break this down in a couple of sections to explain how this worked for me. [u]Going to Sleep:[/u] Within about half an hour to 45 minutes after taking this I would get real tired. I would feel fairly relaxed, and while this will not knock you out (you can stay up if you want and fight through the tiredness) this does help you get to sleep very quickly once you close your eyes. I like to read in bed before I go to sleep and would find myself falling asleep mid sentence after taking this. So yeah, this will put you to sleep very effectively. [u]Hitting that REM Sleep:[/u] This by far was the best aspect of the product. Of all of the sleep aids I have taken, I got the deepest and longest REM sleep while on this. It was truly amazing. My sleep apnea machine registers how long I have the mask on (I put it on right as I go to sleep) so I can see how much I actually sleep. On average I sleep 6 hours a night. Some other sleep aids have put me to sleep as long as 7 to 7.5 hours which I thought was awesome. On the nights where I did not have to wake up to an alarm or would go to bed early, I would register 8 to 9 hours of sleep. I would not wake up once in the middle of the night at all most nights on this either, unless I had to pee. I truly got a ton of rest on this, and it blew me away. [u]Waking Up:[/u] Well, nothings perfect. This was the downfall of the product for me. I thought 3mg of Melatonin would be no big deal, but maybe it was the slow release technology or some other ingredient, but man I would always have a sleep hangover in the morning. It would be a minor to moderate hangover, nothing too extreme, but enough to want to keep me in bed an extra few minutes. So the mornings were not easy on this. [u]Label Claims:[/u] The claims here are Stress, Sleep & Recovery Support. I can agree with all these, but the recovery would be the least effective due to that sleep hangover. I would feel like I slept well though once I got moving around. So no crazy claims here. So yeah, Anabolic Sleep worked great. This would have been my favorite sleep aid if I did not get that doggone morning hangover. This does end up in the top three of sleep aids I have ever taken though. One thing to note is I only took this when I was planning to hit the gym the next day. So I took this around 4-5 times a week. I like to have a couple day break each day, no matter the sleep aid, so my body still can fall asleep by itself. I also cycle my sleep aids giving myself at least two weeks in between aids of normal sleep. I had no issues sleeping normally with no aids after this, so no issues there.
    —-Value—-
    I picked this up from Amazon for $39.99. You get 30 servings per container, so this comes out to $1.33 a serving. I took this 4-5 times a week, so it lasted me just over 6 weeks, so keep that in mind. This appears to be the price no matter where you buy it, so get it in a GNC, or order it from somewhere with the cheapest or free shipping. This is a bit pricey as you can find some quality sleep aids for around or less than a dollar a serving. However, this did give me the deepest sleep I have ever experienced so the value is average to above average in my book. If you ever find this on sale, just get it!!
    —-Side Effects—-
    Minor to Moderate sleep hangover each morning after taking this.
    —-Conclusion—-
    Overall, this was a great run. I do not give GNC products enough credit and lately have been surprised at just how effective they are. If you are looking for a sleep aid with a small dose of Melatonin in it then give this a shot. Sure you will wake up groggy, but you will get some deep sleep and truly be ready for your day. I highly recommend this if you are in the market for a sleep aid.

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