From drops to oral spray

STRUGGLING to sleep right now? You are not alone.

A new survey by nuffieldhealth.com, the UK’s largest healthcare charity has found that two in five of us are getting less sleep than in previous years, and it is affecting both our physical and mental health.

On average, those polled get just five hours and 54 minutes per night.

Here, Jane Atkinson looks at the products that claim to help you get the NHS’s recommended seven hours of good kip.

HUX tablets contain a huge range of sleep aid ingredients.

It includes Levage’s Lipi-Sperse, a clinically trialled natural ingredient proven to reduce anxiety and improve sleep; top-grade ashwagandha herb, for deeper sleep; magnesium for anxiety; and montmorency cherry powder and griffonia seed, which naturally encourages ­production of melatonin.

Plus there’s calming herbs of chamomile, lemon balm and 100mg of valerian extract.

This is a massive mix of sleep aid ingredients.

But they feature in quite small doses, and I had a good, deep sleep.

You’re supposed to take two an hour before bed but I’d start on one if you are not used to herbal pills – you can always build up.

From £31.50 a month, huxhealth.com.

A LOT of sleep potions have loads of ingredients.

Lights-Out 5-HTP nightly oral spray from Better You doesn’t.

It just has three, which I love because then you can establish what works for you.

The nightly five-squirt dose contains sedating herbs – 7.05mg of lemon balm and 8.13mg of passionflower – plus the main ingredient of 50mg of 5-HTP, which is derived from griffonia seed.

5-HTP is a precursor to serotonin, a neurotransmitter responsible for happiness that is indirectly involved in producing melatonin, the hormone critical for sleep.

I love that this spray works quickly as it doesn’t have to bypass the gut but absorbs through the skin.

Has a lovely raspberry flavour too.

I had a lovely calm sleep but the best bit was I didn’t feel at all groggy later.

I will keep this next to my bed.

£19.95, 50ml, betteryou.com.

REST from Indi Supplements is a tincture that you take 30 to 40 ­minutes before going to bed.

Drop one full pipette under your tongue and hold in your mouth for a minute before swallowing.

I liked the taste, minty with a herbal afternote, but with no added artificial flavours.

This also contains ashwagandha, valerian root and griffonia seed together with chamomile.

In a trial, 89 per cent saw an improvement in sleep in just one week, and not a single person felt groggy the day after use.

I didn’t feel groggy but I did wake up in the night.

The downside is getting the quantity quite right.

It’s well worth a go, though, as it comes with a 30-day money back guarantee.

From £34 for 30ml – a month’s supply.

See indisupplements.com.