Tested and written by Martin Ebner, certified personal trainer. Formula and evidence last checked October 2026.
I love sleep. It might be the least glamorous part of fitness, but it does more for your training, appetite, mood and general ability to function than most of the supplements promising to improve all four.
I’m also normally very good at it. Everything I do while I’m awake, with the possible exception of my fierce coffee habit, is designed to help me sleep well. That made testing Performance Lab Sleep slightly unusual because I wasn’t trying to fix a major problem.
I took it consistently for three months. The most obvious difference was more intense dreams. Beyond that, I couldn’t confidently say that I fell asleep faster, slept longer or woke up feeling dramatically different.
That was my experience. The formula has since been updated, so I’ve also reviewed what’s currently in the bottle, how the doses compare with the research and whether Sleep v2 deserves your money.
THE QUICK VERDICT
Performance Lab Sleep is a clean, sensibly constructed sleep supplement. It contains four fully disclosed ingredients, uses decent forms of magnesium and avoids the enormous synthetic melatonin doses found in some sleep products.
The evidence is less impressive than the marketing. The individual ingredients have some research behind them, but the results are mixed, several doses are modest and I couldn’t find a controlled trial testing this complete formula.
I didn’t notice enough during my three-month trial to call it essential. However, I already slept well and didn’t have a huge amount of room for improvement. Someone who regularly struggles to settle down or wakes during the night may get more from it than I did.
At $44 for 30 standard servings, I think it’s a credible option rather than an obvious bargain. My score remains 7/10.
Use code EXTRA10 at checkout for 10% off
PERFORMANCE LAB SLEEP AT A GLANCE
Price: $44 for a one-off purchase
Serving size: Two capsules
Servings per bottle: 30
Suggested use: Two to four capsules before bed
Caffeine: None
Suitable for vegans: Yes
Main ingredients: Magnesium, Montmorency tart cherry, L-tryptophan and lemon balm
Best suited to: People looking for gentle sleep support without a heavy sedative effect
Main drawback: The evidence behind the formula is promising rather than conclusive
My verdict: A clean and credible formula, but not something everybody needs
Prices and subscription offers can change, so check the official Performance Lab Sleep page before ordering.
WHAT IS PERFORMANCE LAB SLEEP?
Performance Lab Sleep is a caffeine-free supplement designed to help you relax, fall asleep and wake up feeling fresher. It isn’t a sleeping tablet and it shouldn’t knock you out. The idea is to support the processes involved in sleep without leaving you feeling as though you’ve been tranquilised.
The current Sleep v2 formula combines magnesium, concentrated Montmorency tart cherry, L-tryptophan and lemon balm. Two capsules provide a standard serving, although Performance Lab says you can take up to four.
Everything is suitable for vegans and free from several common allergens. The active ingredients and their amounts are disclosed, which should be standard across the supplement industry but still isn’t.
WHAT’S IN PERFORMANCE LAB SLEEP?
A standard two-capsule serving currently provides:
Magnesium: 100 mg
CherryPURE® Montmorency tart cherry: 500 mg
L-tryptophan: 200 mg
Lemon balm extract: 200 mg
Four capsules double those amounts but also cut the bottle from 30 nights to 15.
MAGNESIUM
Performance Lab uses magnesium bisglycinate, taurate and NutriGenesis® magnesium. Those are more thoughtful choices than the cheap magnesium oxide found in many supplements, and the standard serving provides 100 mg, or 24% of the daily value.
Magnesium is essential for normal nerve and muscle function, but that doesn’t automatically make it an effective treatment for poor sleep. A 2026 systematic review found inconsistent results across randomised trials and concluded that the current evidence doesn’t support routine magnesium supplementation as a treatment for insomnia.
It may still help somebody whose intake or magnesium status is low. I simply wouldn’t buy this product on the strength of the magnesium alone.
MONTMORENCY TART CHERRY
The formula contains 500 mg of CherryPURE®, a concentrated Montmorency tart-cherry extract. Tart cherries naturally contain melatonin, the hormone involved in regulating the sleep-wake cycle.
That sounds promising, but the label doesn’t state how much melatonin the serving delivers. Knowing the amount of tart-cherry extract isn’t the same as knowing the melatonin dose.
A 2025 systematic review examined seven interventional studies. Three reported improvements in measures such as sleep duration, efficiency or the time taken to fall asleep, but the researchers described the overall evidence as limited and inconsistent.
There may be something useful here. There just isn’t enough evidence to promise that 500 mg of this particular extract will transform your sleep.
L-TRYPTOPHAN
L-tryptophan is an amino acid used by the body to produce serotonin and melatonin. Performance Lab Sleep contains 200 mg in its standard serving.
A systematic review and meta-analysis found that tryptophan may reduce the amount of time spent awake after initially falling asleep. The clearer effects were associated with doses of at least one gram, though, which is five times the amount supplied here.
That doesn’t mean 200 mg does nothing, particularly when combined with the rest of the formula. It does mean the stronger findings from higher-dose studies shouldn’t be pasted directly onto this product.
LEMON BALM
Lemon balm is the main addition to the updated formula. It has a long history of traditional use for relaxation and has attracted research around stress, anxiety and sleep.
The early evidence is interesting, but it remains limited. A review of the clinical evidence concluded that lemon balm shows promise while also calling for better randomised trials.
Sleep v2 provides 200 mg. It may add something to the formula, but we don’t yet have strong evidence showing what this amount does when combined with the other three ingredients.
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN I TOOK PERFORMANCE LAB SLEEP?
I took Performance Lab Sleep every night for three months. I didn’t change my training or deliberately reorganise my life around the trial. I wanted to know what happened when I added it to the routine I already had.
The most noticeable difference was my dreams. They became more intense and easier to remember, although that doesn’t prove I was getting more REM sleep or sleeping more deeply. Dreams are strange enough without trying to turn them into laboratory data.
What I didn’t notice was a dramatic improvement in how quickly I fell asleep, how often I woke or how refreshed I felt in the morning. I didn’t feel sedated, and there was no obvious moment when the capsules suddenly kicked in.
That result needs context. I rarely struggle to sleep, so the product was trying to improve something that was already working fairly well. If you’re regularly staring at the ceiling at two in the morning, your experience may be different.
Personal experience is useful, but it isn’t a controlled experiment. Sleep changes with stress, training, food, alcohol, caffeine, room temperature and whatever else your brain decides to think about the second your head touches the pillow.
WILL IT HELP YOU SLEEP?
Possibly, but I wouldn’t promise it.
Performance Lab Sleep combines several ingredients with reasonable biological explanations and varying levels of human evidence. What it doesn’t have is a strong clinical trial showing that this exact combination reliably helps people fall asleep faster, remain asleep or wake up feeling better.
That distinction matters. Evidence supporting an ingredient doesn’t automatically prove that every supplement containing it will produce the same result.
If your sleep is generally fine and you simply want to squeeze another few percent from it, the difference may be difficult to notice. If settling down is regularly difficult, the formula may be worth testing for yourself.
Persistent insomnia, heavy snoring, gasping during sleep or constant daytime exhaustion deserve more than another bottle of capsules. A supplement can support sleep, but it can’t diagnose what’s disrupting it.
THE CAPSULES CAN’T DO EVERYTHING
You don’t need a perfect evening routine or a bedroom resembling a Scandinavian wellness retreat. Real life rarely allows either.
However, if you’re drinking coffee late in the day, scrolling until your phone hits you in the face and changing your bedtime by several hours every night, a supplement is working against some fairly determined opposition.
Regular sleep and wake times, a dark room, sensible caffeine timing and enough time in bed remain the foundations. Performance Lab Sleep belongs on top of those things, not in place of them. If food is the part you’re unsure about, my guide to pre-sleep nutrition explains what can support recovery without pretending you need another full meal before bed.
If you’ve simply had one dreadful night, my guide to feeling better after a bad night’s sleep gives you a practical plan for the following day.
HOW TO TAKE PERFORMANCE LAB SLEEP
Performance Lab recommends taking two to four capsules approximately 30 minutes before bed.
I’d begin with two. That gives you the standard serving and lets you establish how you respond before considering more.
Four capsules double every ingredient, but they also double the nightly cost and reduce the bottle to 15 servings. More may suit some people, but it shouldn’t be the automatic starting point.
Give it a fair test rather than judging it after one night. Pay attention to how long you take to fall asleep, whether you wake during the night and how you feel the following morning. Those details are more useful than waiting for a dramatic sensation after swallowing the capsules.
SIDE EFFECTS AND SAFETY
I didn’t experience any obvious side effects beyond the more intense dreams.
That doesn’t mean everybody will respond in the same way. The formula contains active ingredients, and natural doesn’t mean incapable of interacting with medication or causing unwanted effects.
If you take prescription medication, are pregnant or breastfeeding, have an existing health condition or are being treated for a sleep disorder, check with a doctor or pharmacist before using it. Stop taking it if it makes you feel unwell.
IS IT GOOD VALUE?
A one-off bottle currently costs $44. At two capsules per night, that works out at roughly $1.47 and gives you 30 nights. At four capsules, it rises to around $2.93 and the bottle lasts 15 nights.
Subscriptions reduce the monthly price, but I wouldn’t begin with a subscription before knowing whether the product suits you. One bottle is enough to run a sensible initial trial at the standard serving.
Performance Lab also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Read the current terms before buying because guarantees and subscription conditions can change.
THE PROS
The complete formula and every active dose are disclosed
It uses several well-tolerated forms of magnesium
It avoids enormous synthetic melatonin doses
It contains no caffeine
It’s suitable for vegans
It’s free from several common allergens
The standard serving provides 30 nights
I didn’t experience a heavy sedative effect
Performance Lab offers a 30-day money-back guarantee
THE CONS
The complete Sleep v2 formula hasn’t been tested in a controlled human trial
The evidence behind several ingredients remains limited or inconsistent
The tryptophan amount is below the doses associated with clearer results in research
The label doesn’t disclose the amount of melatonin supplied by the tart-cherry extract
I couldn’t confidently identify a meaningful improvement during my trial
Four capsules reduce the bottle to only 15 nights
It’s only available directly from Performance Lab
WHO IS PERFORMANCE LAB SLEEP FOR?
Performance Lab Sleep makes the most sense for somebody who occasionally struggles to settle down or remain asleep and wants a gentle, caffeine-free formula rather than a heavy sedative effect.
It may also appeal if you value a clean label, vegan ingredients and complete dose transparency. The formula is neat, convenient and considerably less aggressive than many sleep products.
It makes less sense if you already sleep brilliantly, expect to be knocked unconscious or want a supplement to compensate for a routine that gives sleep no chance. It also isn’t a treatment for chronic insomnia or another underlying sleep disorder.
PERFORMANCE LAB SLEEP OR MIND LAB PRO?
These products sit at opposite ends of the day.
Performance Lab Sleep is designed to support relaxation and sleep. Mind Lab Pro is designed to support focus, memory and mental performance while you’re awake.
You don’t need both simply because Performance Lab makes both. Choose the one that matches the problem you’re trying to solve.
If training performance is your priority, my Pre Lab Pro review is the more relevant place to start.
MY FINAL VERDICT
Performance Lab Sleep is a well-presented supplement with a clean and sensible formula. I like the magnesium forms, the transparent label and the decision to avoid turning it into an enormous synthetic melatonin hit.
The evidence doesn’t support every promise made on the product page, and my own three-month experience was underwhelming. More intense dreams were interesting, but they weren’t enough to convince me that my sleep had meaningfully improved.
I’d still consider it if I were going through a period of poor sleep and had already dealt with the obvious causes. It’s credible enough to try, gentle enough to appeal to people who dislike stronger sleep aids and backed by a useful guarantee.
I wouldn’t call it essential, and I wouldn’t keep buying it if I couldn’t identify a benefit after giving it a fair chance. That leaves it where it started: a respectable 7/10.
Use code EXTRA10 at checkout for 10% off
If you’re still not sure whether a sleep supplement is right for you, have a look through my supplement reviews and guides.
The supplement industry has never met a modest claim it couldn’t improve with a sunrise, a mountain and the word “optimised”. Check It Oot is where I sort the useful stuff from the expensive optimism. One email once or twice a month, written by me, straight to your inbox.
