The Research

The published studies behind Selene's five ingredients. Links go to the journals and public archives, not to us.

Saffron extract

  • 28 days, 63 adults with poor sleep. Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled. Saffron extract (14 mg twice daily) improved insomnia severity, restorative sleep and sleep-diary quality ratings versus placebo. Lopresti et al., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2020. Read the study
  • 28 days, 120 adults, one evening dose. Three-arm, double-blind, placebo-controlled. Saffron taken an hour before bed improved sleep quality ratings versus placebo at both 14 mg and 28 mg, and raised evening melatonin. Lopresti et al., Sleep Medicine, 2021. Read the study
  • 6 weeks, 66 adults with sleep trouble and anxiety, measured with wrist actigraphy. Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled. Saffron extract (15.5 mg daily) improved time in bed, self-reported sleep duration and social functioning versus placebo. Pachikian et al., Nutrients, 2021. Read the study

L-theanine

  • 4 weeks, 30 adults, average age 48. Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover. L-theanine (200 mg daily) reduced anxiety, low-mood and poor-sleep scores, including sleep latency and sleep disturbance, versus placebo. Hidese et al., Nutrients, 2019. Read the study
  • 28 days, 30 adults with moderate stress. Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled. L-theanine reduced perceived stress and light sleep, and improved sleep quality and attention versus placebo. Neurology and Therapy, 2024. Read the study

Magnesium bisglycinate

  • 4 weeks, adults with poor sleep, bisglycinate form. Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled. 250 mg of elemental magnesium as bisglycinate reduced insomnia severity more than placebo. Schuster et al., Nature and Science of Sleep, 2025. Read the study
  • 8 weeks, 46 older adults with insomnia. Double-blind, placebo-controlled. 500 mg of magnesium daily improved insomnia severity, sleep time and sleep efficiency, and lowered evening cortisol, versus placebo. Abbasi et al., Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 2012. Read the study

Apigenin (from chamomile)

  • 28 days, 60 older adults. Randomised controlled trial. Chamomile extract capsules (200 mg twice daily) improved Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores versus placebo. Adib-Hajbaghery and Mousavi, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2017. Read the study
  • 28 days, 34 adults with chronic insomnia. Randomised, placebo-controlled pilot. Standardised chamomile extract gave modest improvements in daytime functioning versus placebo. Zick et al., BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011. Read the study

GABA

  • 4 weeks, 40 adults with insomnia, measured with overnight sleep recording. Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled. A fermented rice-germ extract standardised to 300 mg GABA shortened time to fall asleep and improved sleep efficiency versus placebo. Byun et al., Journal of Clinical Neurology, 2018. Read the study
  • Single dose, healthy adults, EEG-measured. Randomised, placebo-controlled crossover. Oral GABA (100 mg) shortened sleep latency and increased early non-REM sleep versus placebo. Yamatsu et al., Food Science and Biotechnology, 2016.

These trials study individual ingredients at the doses shown, not Selene as a finished formula. Individual results vary.