GABA vs Melatonin for Sleep

The battle to fall asleep and stay asleep is a battle with which all of us are way too familiar. While there are numerous sleep aids on the market, knowing which option best serves your specific needs and preferences can be tricky. To help, we compare two common supplements—GABA vs. Melatonin. Both are naturally derived and free from the addictive qualities of traditional sleeping pills, but the benefits they offer do differ from one another. 

The good news is that you don’t have to choose between one or the other, as products like our CBD sleep spray actually offer both GABA and Melatonin. However, to help you better understand your options, let’s dive deeper into how the two ingredients compare!

CBD Sleep Spray With Melatonin and GABA

What is GABA?

GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, is an amino acid that your brain naturally produces to help calm your nervous system. It acts like a knob on a spigot that slows nerve signals, ultimately helping to reduce anxiety.

To understand GABA, it’s helpful to understand how your body reacts to stressors. When your body experiences pressure, the adrenal glands produce hormones that can send the body into a fight-or-flight state, increasing your heart rate and causing anxiety. In turn, GABA can act as an anti-anxiety agent, balancing stress chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol while calming your nervous system.

While your body makes its own GABA, it’s also found in some sleep aids. 

Benefits of using GABA for sleep

By allowing the nervous system to block specific brain signals, GABA can reduce stress and anxiety, leading to sleep, and is a powerful brain relaxant. 

When comparing GABA to melatonin for sleep, GABA is definitely the lesser-known supplement, but that doesn't mean it's any less effective. GABA works as an inhibitory neurotransmitter because it blocks specific brain signals and reduces activity in the central nervous system, slowing down the brain and body, therefore significantly impacting sleep. By blocking messages between nerve cells in the brain, your body’s natural circadian rhythm can kick into gear. By inhibiting neural activity, GABA helps with sleep, reduces mental and physical stress, lowers anxiety, and promotes a calm mood.

What is Melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone naturally produced by the pineal gland in the brain that helps regulate circadian rhythms, aka your biological clock, and plays a crucial role in the sleep-wake cycle. For people with a “normal” sleep-wake pattern, melatonin production begins in the evening as the sun sets and gradually induces sleepiness as you approach bedtime. 

Melatonin supplements have become widely popular to assist in the body's natural process. These supplements can be used for a variety of reasons, including insomnia, jet lag, shift work, or health issues that inhibit melatonin production.

Benefits of using melatonin for sleep

Millions of people take melatonin to aid in falling and staying asleep, making it the most well-known natural supplement for insomnia. 

So how does it work? Melatonin levels should start rising a few hours before going to bed, reaching peak levels about seven hours after sunset, and maintain those levels throughout the night. In the morning, melatonin levels drop significantly as exposure to light inhibits its production, making you feel awake and alert.

When suffering from the inability to fall asleep, taking melatonin about 30 minutes before bedtime can help. Supplementing with melatonin can reinforce circadian rhythms, signaling the body that it's time to sleep and help you sleep more deeply throughout the night.

Newsflash - You Can Use GABA and melatonin together

If you are trying to decide between GABA and melatonin, there is no need to stress – you can actually use both together for a well-balanced sleep aid. 

Even in our own bodies, the two coexist. Research shows that melatonin can actually boost GABA production. One way melatonin signals the body that it's time to sleep is by releasing GABA, which blocks adrenaline and other stress hormones. 

Our point? Not only does taking melatonin benefit GABA production, but supplementing with GABA also increases the natural benefits of melatonin. GABA especially helps when you are dealing with stress or anxiety, directly impacting anxiety levels more than melatonin does.

Botanika Life combines the two powerful ingredients of melatonin and GABA within our CBD Sleep Spray. Made with natural sleep-inducing and relaxing ingredients like CBD and magnesium, Serentika Sleep Spray alleviates stress and provides essential botanical ingredients to help you drift off to sleep.

CBD Sleep Spray With Melatonin and GABA

How GABA and Melatonin Compare to Prescription Sleep Meds

Prescription sleeping pills usually fall into three categories: hypnotics, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines. While they can help with sleep, they also come with potential side effects and risks. For example, hypnotic sleep meds can cause headaches, nausea, depression, poor coordination, and nervousness. They can also interact badly with other medications, so it’s important to be cautious.

Prescription sleep aids in the barbiturate category act as central nervous system depressants, calming anxiety and treating insomnia, but have a high potential for emotional and physical dependence. Benzodiazepines are another common prescription sleep medication that carry the risk of serious side effects and can be dangerous when mixed with alcohol or other sedatives.

When opting for a natural solution of taking GABA or melatonin (or a combination of the two) your likelihood of side effects is low. When taken in excess, melatonin and GABA may cause daytime drowsiness, headaches, or dizziness. Still, given the potential risks associated with prescription sleeping pills, these natural options are definitely a better choice. 

Why Shop With Botanika Life 

Botanika Life offers plant-based, natural alternatives for pain, inflammation, sleep, and more, making it easy to find effective health and skincare solutions. Their products are made with organically grown ingredients, free from pesticides and GMOs, and undergo rigorous third-party lab testing to ensure you get the highest quality available.

By Emily Wegener

With a unique background as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Masters Degree in Teaching and experience in Psychology, Emily spends much of her time researching and trying out new holistic healing modalities.