Hydrapharm : Revival : Sleep Aid

All-Purpose Supplement for General Health

Hydrapharm have built a reputation for innovation that is second to none in the sports nutrition industry. However, more than innovation they have become industry leaders for products that deliver and deliver big whether the goal is better performance, greater muscle mass, faster recovery, or potent nootropics that you notice from day one.

Their latest product, Revival, falls into the latter category albeit a nootropic that is less about focus and productivity, and more about relaxation and enhancing sleep quality. However, even that underplays the potential benefits since both an understanding from using it and a deep dive of the research behind its ingredients illustrates that Revival is far more than a sleep aid and instead offers a range of benefits that makes it much more akin to the health and wellbeing version of an all-in-one supplement like Quantum.

Revival contains ingredients which are supported in studies to improve immunity and resilience through anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial action. Check out the review in our Immunity Article for the latest Covid-19 Pandemic

The Problems with Existing Sleep Aids

The sleep aid category is broadly split into three types of products.

In the first are highly effective ingredients which are both illegal in the EU, but which also have innate issues with them such as rapid habituation that leads to ever greater doses and decreasing effectiveness.

At the extreme end, they include products such as Phenibut which are only possible to be used once or twice a week to avoid both side effects and to actually be effective still. Usually comprising GABA analogues, this class of product are only really useful for those with periodic issues with falling asleep and are a very bad choice for those with frequent issues with falling and staying asleep.

In the second class, are sleep aids you can commonly find sold in health shops, or supermarkets. Containing a range of herbs or minerals, these are generally effective only for those with occasional sleep problems and fail to help anyone with more chronic sleep issues, especially the type of wired individual who finds it a constant struggle to quieten their mind when going to bed. At best, these types of ingredients can provide a useful adjunct to a sleep aid but are not very effective by themselves.

In the final class, we have pharmaceuticals which tend to consist of benzodiazepenes, antihistamines and Z-class drugs such as Zolpidem and Zopiclone. While they will help users to fall asleep and stay asleep when used occasionally they are also rapidly habituated to, have a range of deleterious side effects, and arguably worst of all, are not much good at all due to their failing to deliver the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep that is critical for improving sleep quality. Instead, by taking a sledgehammer approach, you often find yourself more tired and groggy the day after and these all tend to stimulate appetite strongly – the very last thing most athletes need.

Revival - The Best Sleep Aid Designed 

Given the issues with existing sleep aid products, Hydrapharm remarked to us that Revival proved to be the most difficult product they had ever created, both in finding ingredients that avoid the issues with existing sleep aids and to do so with no dimunition in effect over the long term. However, they told us that extensive testing with Revival made them confident that it would not only prove to be effective but to actually work better the longer it was used.

This seemed too good to be true but our own experience with using it appeared to back up their claims, with our users finding that it both helped with sleep onset, maintaining sleep through the night without the periods of wakefulness that can plague other sleep aids, and that not only did it prove effective with repeated use, but it conferred other benefits we had not even expected but are no surprise when you see some of the benefits associated with some of the ingredients in Revival with safranal and emoxypine being particularly noteworthy in this regard.

Once we look at the data behind the ingredients, it becomes apparent that this was no fluke but a consequence of a combination of ingredients with extensive research behind them.

Revival Ingredient Overview

Revival contains seven different ingredients which encompasses both some we have seen before, and then a few which we’ve not encountered before in a sleep aid.

Magnesium

Magnesium is a mineral which plays a key role in a huge range of bodily processes, including everything from regulating muscular contractions,[1]lowering blood pressure[2]and improving blood sugar control[3]to name just a few that can help athletes who are more likely than not to be deficient in this key mineral. 

However, it is magnesium’s effects on insomnia that merit its inclusion within Revival. Studies show magnesium can help adults fall asleep faster and improve both sleep quality and reduce insomnia symptoms,[4]as well as regulate your body’s sleep-wake cycle[5]and bind to GABA receptors which are crucial for calming nerve activity that can otherwise negatively effect your ability to sleep.[6][7]

Magnesium is one of the ingredients that are hardly new to a sleep aid but an often overlooked component of using this ingredient is the type of magnesium used. Not only do magnesium supplements vary widely in their degree of absorption but the cheaper forms prevalent in many supplements can cause gastric distress.

Magnesium Bisglycinate, the form found in Revival is both the best type of magnesium from an absorption standpoint while also avoiding many of the side effects seen with other forms of magnesium.

Valerian

Valerian is a herb which has been used for centuries as a traditional sleep aid and is a no-brainer being both safe and effective with a meta-analysis of 16 studies comfirming its ability to improve sleep quality.[8][9]

Valerian is certainly not a new ingredient but its inclusion within Revival is to help ensure that the formula is not reliant on any one ingredient but instead ensuring sleep is driven through a variety of mechanisms rather than relying on any single ingredient.

L-Theanine

Theanine is an amino acid which has been long overlooked by athletes but has lately been used increasingly as a way of helping to provide relaxation, with one of its uses being paired with stimulants to help manage the anxiety stimulants can sometimes cause.

While its use as a standalone sleep aid is unlikely to deliver many benefits, its inclusion within Revival is due to theanine’s ability to help relax the mind such that your brain switches off at night as well as its ability to both decrease sleep latency and improve the all-important NREM sleep that is linked to improved sleep quality, at least when paired with supporting ingredients that have a sedating effect.[10]

Additionally, research shows that theanine has a positive effect not only on sleep but in reducing stress[11], acting as a pointer to how Revival can do a lot more for users than simply help with sleep.

5-HTP

Another amino acid, 5-HTP is used by the body to produce serotonin, a chemical that is important for a variety of purposes with low levels linked to depression[12], anxiety, weight gain and poor sleep.[13][14][15]

5-HTP is unique as far as we know by being found in supplements designed to help reduce bodyfat (where it works by increasing satiety) as well as those designed for improved sleep like Revival. It is another example of how Revival can do more for the user than simply help improve sleep quality.

Safranal – A Wonder Compound

So far the ingredients we have covered have not been particularly unique but at this point we turn to arguably the most interesting of all the ingredients found in Revival in Safranal, an ingredient which is highly likely to be new to anyone reading this as well as being pretty much unique to Hydrapharm.

Safranal is an organic compound isolated from the herb saffron, a common ingredient in South Asian cuisine and noted for its distinctive aroma. Before we discuss its research background, the reason it is extremely difficult if not impossible to find in other supplements is that it is actually an oil and so pretty much impossible to encapsulate let alone combine with other ingredients that come in powder form.

Hydrapharm have developed a technique to make safranal work as a dry compound by bonding it with a cyclodextrin which has the additional benefit of making the safranal much more potent! Apparently, this was just as much of a stumbling block to the creation of Revival as any of the research, sourcing and testing involved in making the product. 

Safranal’s Effects on Sleep, Anxiety and Mood

We have spoken already about the importance of NREM sleep, and perfectly on cue, we find safranal has been studied for just this quality with a study showing it both increased the duration of NREM sleep, reduced sleep latency and enhanced the delta power activity of NREM sleep. In layman’s terms it not only reduced the time to fall asleep and increased the time spent in the most important phase of sleep but increased the quality of NREM sleep itself![16]

That’s not all as safranal has also been shown to improve both sleep quality and reduce anxiety in other studies[17][18], with these two effects highly correlated as anxiety is almost always the reason why it can be difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. While anxiety can sometimes have trivial causes like overconsumption of stimulants, more often than not it is correlated to other mood disturbances so you’d expect safranal to address more than anxiety if it was to work well over a long period of time.

Indeed, there is a huge amount of research showing it does just that with research supporting its ability to improve serotonin and dopamine[19], and be as effective, if not more effective, than prescription anti-depressants[20][21]such as fluoxetine (although nobody using those should consider using Revival without first discussing it with their doctor). 

Safranal benefits extend yet further to support not only mood but boost focus and attention[22]which may seem paradoxical for a sleep aid but underlines that Revival could also be used as a supplement at a lower dose during the day in much the same way as CBD Oil can be used both for focus and for sleep.

Safranal Effects on General Health

You will see why we are terming it a wonder compound when you take a look at its effects outside of its impact on sleep related functions.  Safranal has been shown to confer the following health benefits, and indeed this is just a small sample of some of its properties in this area: 

• Exhibitanti-inflammatory[23]and antioxidant effects[24][25]
• Reduce opioid related withdrawal symptoms[26]
• Improve sexual function parameters in both sexes[27][28][29]
• Enhance cognitive ability[30][31]
• Reduce PMS symptoms[32][33]
• Exhibit anti-bacterial[34]and anti-viral properties[35]
• Improve digestive tract symptoms[36]
• Reduce pain[37][38]

• Improve poor [39]eyesight related symptoms[40]
• Exhibits anti-aging[41][42]and immunity benefits[43]
• Protect the liver (particularly useful for those using prohormones and the like)[44][45]

When you read a laundry list of improvements like this you can perhaps understand what we discussed when we said we noticed benefits other than the expected ones on sleep. However, it is not just general health improvements we noted.

Safranal Benefits for Athletes and Bodybuilders

When it comes to ergogenics, substances that improve physical performance, sceptics may allow creatine as an example of a supplement with extensive research supporting its use, and maybe a few others like beta-alanine and citrulline malate but we frequently hear the refrain of there being insufficient studies on humans, or on those engaged in physical exercise.

Therefore, when Hydrapharm showed us the research on safranal’s abilities to improve performance we were very surprised and even moreso from studies showing benefits from as little as a single dose[46], something even creatine will not do.

Among its proven benefits, safranal has been shown to improve exercise performance[47][48], improve endurance capacity as well as exhibit anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects[49], and reduce delayed onset muscle soreness[50]. 

What’s more, it has also been shown to significantly increase testosterone levels in young men[51]with yet another study showing the same result for testosterone levels but which also documented an increase in both growth hormone and IGF-1 levels, two peptides that are notoriously difficult to increase naturally butwhich both saw significant improvements, once again in a group of young men who many will regard as the gold standard for studies like this.[52]

Last but not least, safranal has also been shown to help support fat loss with multiple studies showing it can reduce snacking and increase satiety[53], help lower blood glucose[54][55]and thus increase the use of bodyfat as a fuel source, as well as show anti-lipogenic properties[56][57].

This is not even an exhaustive list of benefits but to conclude the section of safranal, we think Hydrapharm have unearthed an absolute diamond of an ingredient and what’s more, their version is more potent than the ones used in most of the research meaning you can expect even greater benefits!

Emoxypine

The next star ingredient in the Revival formula is Emoxypine which of course is also available as a standalone ingredient under the Hydrapharm product line. As we have already discussed it on the product page as well as written an articleon it, we will keep it brief here by saying that not only has it been shown to reduce anxiety and thus help with sleeping[58][59]but that you can read real user reviews on the product page which should help underline its real world potential for users looking for a general purpose nootropic.

2-Bromomelatonin

Finally we come to the final ingredient in Revival and this is another unique one. As you may gather from the name, it plays a role in the regulation of melatonin, which is arguably the most important factor in ensuring sleep quality. 

Melatonin is produced naturally by the body with levels increasing once night falls and you put away any screens you may have been viewing. With light reducing melatonin levels this is one reason Hydrapharm have stated on the label that users should avoid bright light at bedtime when using Revival.

While melatonin supplementation helps with sleep onset it is probably more widely used as a means to combat jet-lag due to its importance in regulating the sleep-wake cycle. As beneficial as melatonin is, it has mixed research support with many users tending to find it does not really do much by itself.

2-Bromomelatonin though is not the same thing as melatonin itself as it has been shown to be ten times more potent than melatonin itself while significantly potentiating the effects of GABA which is produced when we sleep[60]. This makes it an altogether more valuable ingredient than melatonin itself and yet another first from Hydrapharm in its introduction in Revival.

Summary

By now you can see that in formulating Revival the way they have, Hydrapharm have exceeded themselves and produced a supplement which not only beats any other in the sleep aid category, but goes much further still in having an effect on other areas you will find beneficial in your fitness journey.