Beauty Sleep in a Bottle

I've addressed the benefits of a good probiotic in the past, and have had success with a probiotic-only supplement - but I've continued to struggle with getting a good night's sleep, even with the help of sleep-aid supplements.  Recently, IdealFit released a product in its IdealLean line designed to combine gut health with natural sleep aids into a nighttime probiotic, and I managed to snag a bottle to see if this dual-action supplement might be a good solution for me.

Disclaimer: I received IdealLean products to try and review.  I am under no obligation to promote the product, and all opinions expressed in this and any related posts are, as always, my own.  This post contains affiliate links.

On the probiotic side: as far as I can tell, it's doing what it's supposed to do.  I'm noticing the same gut-related effects, which is to say I poop noticeably more when I'm taking the supplement than when I'm not taking it.  Whereas my previous probiotic experience had my bowel movements landing early afternoon-ish after taking my supplement in the morning, the overnight probiotics have my bathroom scheduled shifted forward.  Morning bowel movements are more frequent and more, ah, substantial.  I actually like this better, because I feel like I'm starting my day by getting rid of a bunch of, well, crap, instead of running to the bathroom at the office and unloading mid-day.

On the sleep side: a blend of Valerian root and chamomile extract give this supplement a little extra nighttime boost, which does seem to be helping a little.  I don't quite have the timing down yet (and a couple unexpected middle-of-the-night phone calls haven't helped) but I have definitely noticed increased drowsiness after taking the supplement, and an easier time falling asleep on the nights when I am taking the probiotic.  Neither of the ingredients are "knock-out punches", so to speak, and they're not intended to be; rather, they supplement your natural sleep cycle to enhance your quality of sleep.

A surprising effect I've noticed actually comes from coupling the probiotic with another IdealLean product I've been trying, a pre-workout that (somewhat less surprisingly) contains caffeine.  With my sensitivity to stimulants like caffeine, I'm always nervous about the side effects of most pre-workouts, but after taking this one a few times I've noticed I do not have the same adverse reactions that most pre-workouts seem to give me.  A little investigation into my probiotic's ingredients found something called L-Theanine, a non-essential amino acid known for its relaxing properties - including mitigation of caffeine side effects!  I hadn't known these two products would go together so nicely when I started taking them, but I LOVE that I can get the benefits of both without the negatives I've seen in the past!

IdealLean's probiotic is just the beginning of a giant line of awesome products.  I've been using a bunch of their stuff lately, and I'm really diggin' it.  Stay tuned as I slowly revive Supplement Sunday by reviewing more great IdealLean products (and others) in the coming weeks!  Oh, and, it just so happens that for the next couple days IdealFit is having a buy-2-get-1-free on the pre-workout that goes so nicely with this new probiotic!  You can head over to stock up by clicking HERE!

Today's post is not only relaunching the Supplement Sunday series on my OWN blog, but is also the LAUNCH of my first-ever hosted linkup!  Share your supplement reviews all week long by adding your link below.  Be sure to grab the badge above and provide a link back to the host!