Does Glycine help sleep? (Grade C evidence)
Explore current source-reported research for this exact question. These records are separate from the synthesis below; they do not update its grade or establish a recommendation.
For sleep, Glycine sits at Grade C — a hint of benefit in the recorded evidence, especially in adults, low certainty, at doses 3 g before bed.
Exact question reviewed
- Population
- adults
- Intervention
- Glycine · 3 g before bed
- Comparator
- not reported
- Outcome
- sleep
- Time horizon
- not reported
Bottom line. For sleep, Glycine sits at Grade C — a hint of benefit in the recorded evidence, especially in adults, low certainty, at doses 3 g before bed. [1 other]
- Direction
- benefit
- Magnitude
- small trials suggest improved subjective sleep quality and reduced next-day fatigue
- Grade
- C
- Certainty
- low
- Clinical meaning
- small but potentially useful
- Who it applies to
- adults
- Dose / form studied
- 3 g before bed
- Safety
- not assessed
- The one limitation
- Claim-specific limitation details are not available in this public record.
Reviewed not reported · Evidence last changed · Open evidence record (version 0)
Grade C / low: hints of benefit in small trials; a well-run RCT could easily push this to B or to null.
Who it works for
Best-studied in adults. Recorded studied dose: 3 g before bed.
Evidence
| Study | Design | Role | Cite |
|---|---|---|---|
| New therapeutic strategy for amino acid medicine: glycine improves the quality of sleep | peer-reviewed | not classified | PMID:22293292 |
Why this grade
Reasoning trace
The current record stores Grade C at low certainty and links 1 publishable source. A claim-specific domain-by-domain grading rationale is not available in this public record, so no reason for upgrading or downgrading is inferred here.
Audit and version
- Claim ID
- ec_gly_sleep
- Claim version
- not reported
- Governance
- legacy, not verified
- Clinician review
- Not yet reviewed by a licensed clinician
- Last evidence search
- not reported
- Last editorial review
- not verified
Dose & form
Studied intake: 3 g before bed.
How it stacks up for sleep
- Glycine vs Ashwagandha for sleep — Ashwagandha Grade C
- Glycine vs Melatonin for sleep — Melatonin Grade B
- Glycine vs Magnesium for sleep — Magnesium Grade C
- Glycine vs 5-HTP for sleep — 5-HTP Grade C
- Glycine vs Valerian for sleep — Valerian Grade C
- Glycine vs L-Theanine for sleep — L-Theanine Grade C
- All interventions graded for sleep →
Grade history
- C → CCorrection by Claude (gold-standard provenance sweep): live Postgres source drift replaced with the verified seed source set [pmid-22293292] details →
Re-review cadence: every 6 months (Grade C+) · methodology v1.
Frequently asked
How long does Glycine take to work for sleep?
This record does not report a studied onset time for Glycine and sleep. Do not assume a typical timeframe.
What dose was used in studies of Glycine for sleep?
The recorded studied dose for Glycine and sleep is 3 g before bed. This is a source detail, not a dose recommendation.
Does Glycine work for sleep if I'm not deficient?
The recorded studied population is adults. This field alone does not show whether deficiency or baseline status changes the effect.
Glycine or the next-best alternative for sleep?
See the compare block above for the head-to-head with the most-cited alternative. Grade + certainty differences matter more than any single trial.
Related
What this is — and is not
- Evidence description
- small trials suggest improved subjective sleep quality and reduced next-day fatigue
- Substrate's interpretation
- The current reviewed record assigns Grade C at low certainty. A domain-by-domain rationale is shown only when recorded.
- Discuss with a clinician
- If you're on medication or have a condition that changes the calculus, bring the interaction & population blocks above to your pharmacist or prescriber before deciding.
- Individualized medical advice
- Not provided here or on any Substrate surface (API, agent tool, embed) — see YMYL policy.
Cite this page
Citation is encouraged. The proposed reuse license is CC-BY-4.0; status: pending-governance-ratification.
Plain-text citation
Substrate. Does Glycine help sleep? (Grade C). https://evidencebased.info/interventions/glycine/sleep. Updated 2026-07-16.
BibTeX
@misc{substrate_ventionsglycinesleep,
author = {Substrate editorial},
title = {Does Glycine help sleep?},
year = {2026},
url = {https://evidencebased.info/interventions/glycine/sleep},
note = {Grade C, evidencebased.info}
}Found something wrong on this page? Report an error →
Current source-reported research
Membership uses admitted intervention and measured-outcome associations for this exact question. Different populations, preparations, comparators and timepoints remain separate. No pooling or update to the synthesis is asserted.