Why You Can't Sleep (And What to Do About It)

You're tired. Not the kind of tired that a good night fixes, but the kind that sits behind your eyes at 2pm, makes you forget why you walked into the kitchen, and somehow coexists with being wide awake at midnight.

If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Around one in three adults experience insomnia symptoms, and for women navigating their 30s and 40s, hormonal shifts make sleep even harder to come by. The cruel irony is that sleep is when your body does its deepest repair work, from collagen production to hormone regulation to immune function. Less sleep doesn't just make you tired. It makes everything harder.

The problem with most natural sleep supplements is that they either knock you out with a synthetic sedative effect or they're so gentle you can't tell they're doing anything at all. There's a middle ground, and the science has caught up to it.

Here's what actually works for natural sleep support, and what to look for if you want to wake up feeling like a human again.

Why you're not sleeping (it's not just stress)

Yes, stress plays a role. But there's more going on beneath the surface.

Your sleep-wake cycle is governed by your circadian rhythm, your body's internal clock that determines when you feel alert and when you feel sleepy. As you age, the signals that regulate this rhythm weaken. By your 40s, your body is significantly less efficient at transitioning into sleep mode than it was in your 20s. This is why falling asleep and staying asleep gets harder with time, even if your lifestyle hasn't changed.

At the same time, cortisol (your stress hormone) can become dysregulated. In a healthy pattern, cortisol peaks in the morning and drops at night. But chronic stress, screen exposure, and hormonal changes can flatten that curve, leaving cortisol elevated when it should be winding down. The result: your body is physically tired but your nervous system won't switch off.

And then there's the gut-brain connection. Your gut produces around 95% of your body's serotonin, a key neurotransmitter for mood and relaxation. If your digestive system is under stress (which hormonal changes can cause), serotonin production gets disrupted, and your ability to wind down at night suffers.

This is why a single-ingredient natural sleep supplement rarely does the job. Sleep isn't one system. It's several systems working together, and they all need support.

Pistachio extract: the ingredient most people haven't heard of

Here's something that might surprise you. Pistachios are one of the most bioactive nuts ever studied for sleep support. They contain a unique combination of compounds that directly influence your circadian rhythm and sleep-wake signalling.

Research from the Institut Cochin in Paris found that pistachio extract contains bioactive compounds that interact with the receptors responsible for sleep onset and circadian rhythm regulation. These aren't just passive nutrients. They actively support your body's ability to recognise when it's time to sleep.

In a randomised, double-blind clinical study, pistachio extract supplementation produced improvements in sleep latency (how quickly you fall asleep), total sleep time, sleep quality, and how refreshed participants felt upon waking. This is the kind of cutting-edge ingredient that most supplement brands haven't caught up to yet.

This is plant-based sleep support backed by real clinical evidence. Not a herbal tea and a hope for the best.

Adaptogenic mushrooms: the stress piece of the puzzle

Even with the best circadian rhythm support, if your nervous system is still running in overdrive at bedtime, you won't sleep well. This is where adaptogenic mushrooms come in.

Adaptogens are natural compounds that help your body modulate its stress response. They don't sedate you. They help your body find its way back to balance, so sleep can happen naturally.

Reishi: the calming powerhouse

Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) has been used in traditional medicine for centuries, and modern research is validating what practitioners have long observed. A clinical study of 60 chronic insomnia patients demonstrated significant improvements in both sleep onset time and total sleep duration with reishi supplementation.

The mechanism is fascinating. Reishi's triterpenes help bring cortisol back to appropriate nighttime levels, while also influencing the GABA pathway, your brain's natural calming system. It works on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, essentially helping your adrenal glands stop pumping out stress hormones when they should be winding down. Most people notice improved sleep quality within two to four weeks of consistent use.

Shiitake and maitake: the supporting cast

While reishi gets most of the sleep headlines, shiitake and maitake mushrooms play important supporting roles. Both contain beta-glucan polysaccharides that support immune function and help the body manage inflammation, a hidden driver of poor sleep. When your immune system is in a low-grade inflammatory state (common during periods of stress or hormonal change), sleep quality suffers. These mushrooms help bring that background noise down.

Together, this trio of adaptogenic mushrooms addresses the stress side of sleep from multiple angles: cortisol regulation, nervous system calming, and inflammatory balance.

The ritual factor (don't underestimate it)

There's a reason sleep hygiene experts talk about bedtime routines. Your brain needs signals that it's time to wind down. Scrolling your phone in bed sends the opposite signal.

This is where the format of your sleep supplement actually matters. A warm drink 30 minutes before bed does double duty. The act of making it becomes a ritual, a consistent signal to your nervous system that the day is ending. And the warmth itself promotes vasodilation (blood flow to your extremities), which helps lower your core body temperature, a physiological trigger for sleep onset.

A hot chocolate flavoured sleep supplement turns something you need to do (take your supplements) into something you want to do (enjoy a warm, comforting drink). That distinction matters for consistency, and consistency is everything with sleep support.

What to avoid in sleep supplements

Not all natural sleep supplements are created equal, and some can actually make things worse over time.

Watch out for synthetic sedative ingredients. Many sleep supplements rely on ingredients that override your body's natural processes rather than supporting them. The problem with that approach is dependency. Your body stops doing the work itself, and you end up needing the supplement just to function. Look for plant-based ingredients that support your circadian rhythm naturally, rather than forcing sleep artificially.

Avoid anything that creates dependency. If a supplement makes you groggy the next morning or you feel like you "can't sleep without it" after a few weeks, that's a red flag. Good sleep support should train your body back into healthy patterns, not become a crutch.

Check for unnecessary fillers. Artificial colours, flavours, and bulking agents have no place in something you're taking to help your body recover. Your liver is already doing repair work overnight. Don't give it extra processing to do.

The collagen connection

Here's something most people don't connect: sleep and collagen are deeply linked.

Your body produces the majority of its collagen during deep sleep. Growth hormone, which peaks during slow-wave sleep, is a key driver of collagen synthesis. So when your sleep quality drops, your collagen production drops with it. You see this show up as dull skin, more visible fine lines, slower recovery from exercise, and weaker nails and hair.

This is why "beauty sleep" isn't just an expression. It's a biological process. And it's why adding a scoop of unflavoured marine collagen to your nightly hot chocolate creates a compounding effect. Better sleep means more collagen production, and supplementing with collagen gives your body the raw materials to make the most of that repair window.

What good sleep support looks like

If you're evaluating the best natural sleep supplements in New Zealand or Australia, here's what to look for:

Plant-based circadian rhythm support. Pistachio extract contains naturally occurring bioactive compounds that support your body's sleep-wake cycle. This is a smarter approach than synthetic ingredients that override your natural rhythm.

Adaptogenic support for stress. Sleep isn't just about circadian rhythm. If your cortisol is elevated and your nervous system is wired, you need ingredients that address the stress response too. Reishi, shiitake, and maitake mushrooms provide that support without sedation.

A format that supports your routine. Capsules work for some people. But if you're trying to build a wind-down ritual, a warm drink format has real advantages for signalling your brain that it's time to rest.

Clean formulation. No artificial colours, no unnecessary fillers, no caffeine. Just the ingredients that do the work.

Building your evening routine

60 minutes before bed: Dim the lights. Put your phone on charge in another room (or at least switch to a book or podcast). This allows your body's natural wind-down signals to kick in.

30 minutes before bed: Make your sleep supplement. If you're using a hot chocolate format, the ritual of making it becomes your brain's cue. Sip it slowly. This isn't a shot to throw back. It's a transition.

In bed: Your body temperature will start to drop, your nervous system will be calming from the adaptogens, and the pistachio extract will be supporting your natural sleep onset. Let it work.

Give it time: Most people notice improvements within the first week, but the real shift happens over two to four weeks of consistent use as your body recalibrates its sleep-wake patterns.

The bottom line

Poor sleep isn't something you should just accept. And the solution isn't a stronger sedative or another generic sleep supplement. It's a smarter approach that works with your body's natural systems: circadian rhythm support for sleep onset, adaptogens for stress regulation, and a consistent routine that signals your brain it's time to rest.

Beauty Sleep combines pistachio extract (one of the most powerful natural sleep-support ingredients ever studied) with a trio of adaptogenic mushrooms (reishi, shiitake, and maitake) in a hot chocolate you'll actually look forward to. It's plant-based, caffeine-free, and designed to be the last good decision you make each day.

Add a scoop of Naked Collagen straight into your hot chocolate to give your body the building blocks it needs during that overnight repair window, and you're not just sleeping better. You're waking up better.

Because the best version of tomorrow starts with how you sleep tonight.