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Olly Sleep gummies were our first introduction to sleep gummies, and they’re a literal and figurative dream.
We weren’t sure that melatonin even worked, having grown accustomed to stronger “herbs” like Ambien over the years. But Olly Sleep worked like a charm, and has since sent us on a year-long odyssey into the vast cosmos of sleep gummies.
We actually bought these out of desperation: we were in the middle of a trying period in life, and would wake up regularly in the middle of the night with panicked thoughts. Within one or two nights of taking these, though, we were able to stay asleep all night!
And we never looked back.
So what is this melatonin magic? We’ve got an in-depth guide to melatonin gummies that’ll answer all your questions, if you’re new to melatonin and want a better understanding of what these gummies are doing!
But let’s run through it real quick:
What is Melatonin?
Melatonin is a “sleep hormone” that’s naturally produced in your brain every night. It’s basically responsible for regulating your sleep cycle, and helps modulate your brain activity so you can start winding down and settling into a restful sleep.
Melatonin production is based on light: when it starts getting dark out, this signals to your body that it’s time to dump a little melatonin into your brain.
Obviously, with the amount of artificial light we’re exposed to in the evening, especially through screens, this can wreak some havoc on our natural rhythms. (This is why you might’ve seen blue-blocking glasses become all the rage lately.
Jet lag also messes up your circadian rhythm, so popping a melatonin gummy is a common solution for resetting your sleep clock in a new timezone.
And it sure seems like stress might inhibit your body’s natural melatonin production: if you’ve got cortisol coursing through your veins, you might find it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep.1
So the ability to give your body a gentle nudge towards falling asleep can sometimes be super helpful, and that’s exactly what melatonin gummies are here to do.
What’s in Olly Sleep?
The Olly Sleep gummies contain 3mg of melatonin per serving, which is a pretty standard and solid dose. Other sleep gummies can range from 1 mg to 10+ mg(!!), but we’ve found that the 3 mg range is our sweet spot.
The serving size for Olly Sleep is two gummies, which is nice because you can just take one gummy if you find that 3 mg leaves you groggy in the morning.
Everyone’s going to be a little different when it comes to how much melatonin you need to do the trick, so we always recommend experimenting a little (and starting on the low side) to see what works for you personally.
But melatonin isn’t the only thing in here that’ll help you get to sleep!
Olly Sleep gummies also contain a relaxing blend of l-theanine + botanicals like chamomile and lemon balm for extra goodness.
l-theanine
L-theanine is an animo acid that helps promote a sense of calmness.
It’s one of our favorite gummy ingredients, and it’s a common pairing in sleep gummies in particular, although l-theanine itself doesn’t necessarily make you sleepy per se: it’s in here to help you chill out a little before bed.
These gummies have 100mg of l-theanine per serving, which is actually twice as much as Olly’s Goodbye Stress (which we also love!).
chamomile
The bedtime flower par exellence, Chamomile has a long tradition of being used as a sleep aid, especially in a hot, comforting mug of tea.
While the actual science around how effective it actually is for sleep has mixed results,2 we personally love a little dash of chamomile extract in our sleep gummies.
passionflower
Passionflower is another relatively common botanical addition to sleep gummies, and has been the subject of some promising studies regarding its effect on sleep quality.*
One study claimed that the “initial findings suggest that the consumption of a low dose of Passiflora incarnata, in the form of tea, yields short-term subjective sleep benefits for healthy adults with mild fluctuations in sleep quality.”3
lemon balm
Though our explorations of the gummy galaxy, Lemon Balm has become one of our all-time favorite herbs.
There have been promising studies on its potentially stress-reducing and sleep-enhancing effects4, and all we know is that when we see it in a calm or sleep gummy, we know we’re in for a chill time.
👉 Our award for best use of lemon balm goes to Charlotte’s Web CBD Calm gummies.
All together, these supplemental ingredients work synergistically together with the melatonin to give you a gentle lift off into a good night’s sleep.*
Also, we appreciate that these only have 2 grams of beet sugar per serving. Heads up though: like a lot of gummies, these are made with gelatin so they’re not vegan.
Do Olly Sleep Gummies Work?
As we mentioned above, we grabbed these off the shelf at Target in desperation after a string of restless nights, and after taking them a couple times, we became converts to the melatonin lifestyle.
Olly’s Sleep gummies are the perfect entry point into the vast dimensions of sleep gummies. And while we’ve personally moved on to some new favorite melatonin gummies, we’ll always hold these in high regard.
tasting notes
The flavor of these is called “Blackberry Zen,” a combination of blackberry and mint, and it might just about our all-time favorite gummy vitamin flavor.
That’s saying a lot! Because after all, at the end of the day, the whole point of vitamin gummies is deliciousness. And all of Olly’s flavors are pretty incredible.
We think this is one of Olly’s best offerings, both in terms of effectiveness and taste.
We do have to note, though: the Sugarbear Sleep Vitamins won us over. They’re the most epic sleep gummy we’ve come across so far, plus they’re vegan, which the Ollys are not. Read our review of Sugarbear Sleep here, or check out our rankings of our top 5 favorite melatonin gummies.
Either way though, it’s hard to go wrong with Olly Sleep, especially if it’s your first time trying melatonin.
See you in dreamland!
citations
- Stress inhibition of melatonin synthesis in the pineal organ of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is mediated by cortisol,
- Srivastava, Janmejai K et al. “Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with bright future.” Molecular medicine reports vol. 3,6 (2010): 895-901. doi:10.3892/mmr.2010.377
- Ngan A, Conduit R. A double-blind, placebo-controlled investigation of the effects of Passiflora incarnata (passionflower) herbal tea on subjective sleep quality. Phytother Res. 2011 Aug;25(8):1153-9. doi: 10.1002/ptr.3400. Epub 2011 Feb 3. PMID: 21294203.
- Kennedy DO, Little W, Scholey AB. Attenuation of laboratory-induced stress in humans after acute administration of Melissa officinalis (Lemon Balm). Psychosom Med. 2004 Jul-Aug;66(4):607-13. doi: 10.1097/01.psy.0000132877.72833.71. PMID: 15272110.
