Sleep & Stress Guides

This category holds three quite different kinds of product, and the labels have less in common than the shelf implies. Melatonin is a single compound sold across an unusually wide dose range. Valerian is a botanical, so extract ratios and standardisation apply. Relaxation formulas are blends of several ingredients at amounts the front label rarely breaks out.

Per-unit dosing matters more here than almost anywhere else on the site. The same brand often sells the same product at four strengths in near-identical packaging, and format spreads unusually wide — tablets, capsules, gummies, lozenges, liquids and sprays, with fast-dissolve and extended-release versions labelled separately. Gummies frequently count two units as one serving, so the figure on the front may describe twice what you are actually taking.

Regulatory status is worth knowing before you compare. Melatonin is a dietary supplement in the United States and a prescription-only medicine in the UK, Ireland and much of the EU, and the doses used in prescribing tend to sit well below what is sold over the counter elsewhere.

These guides cover doses, formats and the interactions worth raising with a pharmacist. To compare products, the sleep and stress comparison filters by strength, format, brand and pack size.