I’ve had chronic insomnia my whole life. These are the products I tested that halted my 3am wake up calls

About one-third of the global population has experienced insomnia at some point in their lives, and 10% suffer from chronic insomnia, which is insomnia that lasts for three months or more. As someone who has experienced insomnia for most of my life, I fall into that 10% group.  

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had trouble sleeping. It tends to take me a while to drift off, and most nights I will wake around 3am before falling asleep again. I’ve never sought any formal treatment for my insomnia, so I can’t say for certain what causes it, but I theorise that anxiety plays a major part. 

While I have had insomnia for almost my entire life, I wouldn’t say I ‘suffer from it’ so much as consider it a daily annoyance. 

Still, when my editor asked if I would be interested in seeing whether any of the most popular of the myriad of products purporting to help you sleep actually did anything, I jumped at the opportunity. 

If you're a fellow sufferer dreading the clocks going forward to further disrupt your sleeping pattern, read on to find out what worked for me.

Meet our insomnia investigator

James Aitchison, Which? senior researcher and writer

James Aitchison has spent more than a decade deconstructing the science behind product claims. A former managing editor at USA Today, James also worked as the sleep editor at Reviewed where he tested and reviewed mattresses, pillows and bedding. 

He's now one of our key health and wellbeing researchers leading the Which? charge into investigating the claims made by the multi-billion pound wellness industry and the influencers promoting them. 

From rigorous trials of insomnia solutions to his current deep-dive into the efficacy of LED masks and collagen supplements, James’s goal is proving whether so-lauded miracle health products actually deliver results, or just empty promises. 

How I shortlisted insomnia cures to test

There’s an overwhelming number of products available, almost all making bold claims about their effectiveness. 

In order to narrow things down, I reached out to our experts at Which? to find out if they had any product recommendations. 

I also asked our readers to weigh in on what products or methods helped them sleep soundly at night. 

As with all product testing at Which? no company could buy its way into my testing. We're free from manufacturer and retailer influence. Find out more about our impartiality and how your support helps us to stay editorially independent.  

After receiving hundreds of recommendations for various products, alongside some serious advice (‘Read a book before going to sleep’) and some not-so-serious advice (‘a clear conscience’), I settled on a list of ten products that I would put to the test.  

Get a relaxing night's sleep with our pick of the best mattresses and best pillows

How I tested

Each product underwent a rigorous evaluation phase of at least one week. During this time I captured detailed qualitative and quantitative data on my sleep cycles to identify any changes. 

I tend to take a long time to fall asleep at first and almost always wake up between 2am and 3am most nights. When I wake up in the middle of the night it takes between 30 minutes and an hour for me to fall back to sleep. 

When testing each product I kept a record of whether I fell asleep quicker than usual, whether I woke up in the night, and how long it took me to fall back to sleep if I did. 

I conducted the testing throughout late summer and autumn of 2025.

Yes, the temperature in my room may have played a factor in how successfully I managed to fall asleep each night. And yes, the causes of insomnia are specific to each person who experiences it, so what worked for me may not work for you and vice versa. 

However, given I was truly sceptical whether anything would make a difference to my insomnia, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there are things that can make a difference. 

Struggling to sleep? Try these seven expert-backed tips for better sleep.

The best insomnia cures I tried

Sleep headphones

Pros 

• Helped me fall asleep
• Helped me sleep through the night
• Comfortable
• easy to use

Cons

• Bluetooth range could be better

My verdict: If I’m having a particularly rough night, my go-to strategy is to pop in my earbuds and load up a podcast. 

Generally, this works wonders and provides a much-needed distraction from the stubborn, anxious thoughts that seem to creep up on me at night. 

Of course, the podcast selection is important, so I tend to choose something mundane and light-hearted, such as Off Menu and steer clear of anything in the true crime or political genre. 

Of course, having a bulbus bud in your ear isn’t particularly comfortable, especially if you roll over onto your other side, and there's the added frustration of having to find the earbud after it has fallen out of your ear in the night. 

Sleep headphones seek to solve this problem, and the Snoozeband I tried did a pretty good job of it. 

The band is pleasant to wear, and the two flat speakers positioned on either side of the head are unobtrusive and well cushioned, which meant I could sleep on either side without any discomfort around my ears. 

Of all the devices I tried out, the sleep headphones were the most successful at getting me sleep and keeping me asleep. 

My only issue with the Snoozeband set I tried was the Bluetooth range. If you prefer to keep your phone out of the bedroom, you may find that the range isn’t quite robust enough to keep a consistent connection. 

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Magnesium supplements

Pros

• Helped me fall asleep
• Helped me sleep through the night

Cons

• Vivid (more than usual) dreams and nightmares

My verdict:  I initially did not intend to include any ingestibles or supplements in this experiment. 

Considering the sheer number of options available, ranging from botanicals to amino acids, I was at a loss as to which ones to prioritise and which to ignore. 

There’s also the fact that it would take longer to notice any positive effects. 

However, we had just completed testing magnesium supplements. While clinical evidence remains thin and often contradictory (this systemic review found limited evidence) magnesium's popularity among insomniacs is undeniable so I added it to my trial to test my consumer experience against the current scientific consensus. 

I selected one of the cheapest cost per dose of the products we'd recently put under the microscope to uncover the Best magnesium supplements, Vitabright magnesium glycinate capsules. I took the suggested dosage around lunchtime each day. I chose lunchtime as magnesium works best when taken on an empty stomach and a few hours before bedtime. 

I didn’t notice any improvement in my ability to fall asleep. However, each day I took magnesium, I slept through the entire night. 

A commonly reported side effect of magnesium is vivid dreams, and this was certainly something I experienced while taking these supplements. There are no clinical studies into this phenomenon, but the most likely cause is simply an increase in REM as a result of improved sleep. A price worth paying in my case. 

Discover more about what we discovered testing magnesium: 'I'm a magnesium supplement expert - here are five things I'd never do when buying'.  

Silk pillowcases

Pros

• Helped me fall asleep
• Helped me sleep through the night
• Comfortable
• Cooling

Cons

• Expensive
• A chore to wash

My verdict:  If you had asked me at the start of this exercise which product I had little hope in, my immediate response would be ‘the silk pillowcase’. 

While they are known to reduce hair frizz and help keep skin smooth and hydrated, I was not convinced that switching my cotton pillowcase for the John Lewis Organic Mulberry Silk pillowcase I selected for this test would help me sleep in any meaningful way. 

I stand corrected. 

The silk pillowcases' success as a sleep aid all boils down to comfort. Smooth, high-quality silk is inherently more luxurious and comfortable than cotton, so it made sense that the feel of smooth silk on my face had a calming and soothing effect. 

Additionally, silk is cool to the touch even on hot days, and as someone who struggles to sleep when it’s warm, I found it prevented me from overheating. 

Of course, there is always a downside and silk pillowcases are a massive chore to clean when compared with regular old cotton. They are also around twice the price of a standard Egyptian cotton pillowcase, which is frightening enough to give me nightmares.  

Still not convinced? Read why it's not just more and more our Which? experts love their silk pillowcases.

What partially worked for me

Body pillows

Pros

• Helped me sleep through the night
• Comfortable

Cons

• Didn't help me fall asleep
• Takes up a lot of space

My verdict: I received several recommendations for body pillows from Which? experts and fellow insomniacs. 

These pillows provide an extra degree of comfort for side sleepers, provide additional support and allow the user to maintain a more conducive sleep posture with a neutral spine alignment. 

They're designed to rest between the sleeper's legs, which limits painful pressure points by preventing the knees from pressing together. 

They're often used by pregnant women to make side sleeping more comfortable and those recovering from hip and knee surgery. 

I sleep on my side and occasionally will either place a regular pillow or the edge of the duvet between my legs to better align my spine and prevent my overly knobbly knees from pushing together. 

The Simba body pillow did a reasonably good job at improving my sleep posture, but I’m not really sure that it justifies its high price. 

There’s also the simple fact that it takes up a significant amount of space on the bed, which is a problem if, like me, you already share the mattress with a significant other and a cat. 

In the end even though the body pillow didn't do much to help me fall asleep, I did notice that I slept through the night more often while using it. 

Weighted blankets

Pros

• Helped me fall asleep
• Calming

Cons

• Didn't help me sleep through the night

My verdict: As a generally anxious person, I’ve always been tempted to try a weighted blanket. There is a limited amount of evidence to suggest that the type of deep touch pressure weighted blankets provide can have a calming effect, which could, in theory, help me fall asleep a little easier. 

According to most sources, a weighted blanket should be about 10% of the user's body weight. So I went with a 9kg weighted blanket from Oodie. 

The significant pressing weight of the blanket was strangely comforting and seemed to lessen my general anxiety somewhat. As a result of this calming effect, I did notice that I fell asleep more easily on the nights I used it. So far, so good. 

It was when I woke in the night that the Oodie began to cause trouble.

 A 9kg blanket is pretty heavy at the best of times, but when you’re half asleep and trying to shift positions, it may as well be a boulder. 

Rolling over while under the blanket required me to first push up the blanket, no mean feat when you are groggy, and then releasing the blanket and quickly rotating my body before it landed back on me with a thud. 

Although the weighted blanket did help relax me enough to fall asleep more easily, the mini weightlifting session in the middle of the night, unsurprisingly, harmed my ability to sleep through the night. 

In the end, I found it most effective to lie under the blanket and then push it off me as I noticed myself starting to fall asleep. 

Best anti-snoring devices - our independent test with real snorers uncovers which gadgets can help to reducing snoring at night

The insomnia cures that didn't work for me

Lavender pillow spray

Pros

• Smells amazing

Cons

• Didn't help me fall asleep
• Didn't help me sleep through the night

My verdict: Aromatherapy was a recurring suggestion from our readers, particularly lavender. There is some evidence to suggest that lavender is an effective tool for improving sleep quality, so I thought I would try out a popular lavender pillow spray. 

I sprayed the This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray on my pillow each night for a week. The resulting aroma was extremely pleasant, but didn’t do much for my sleep. 

I took just as long to drift off and had my usual 3am wake-up. 

However, while it didn’t do much for my sleep, both my wife and I appreciated the scent so much that we decided to purchase some for ourselves and as Christmas gifts. We don't use it on pillows specifically, but as a general-purpose room deodoriser. 

Sleep masks

Pros

• Incredibly effective at blocking out light
• Comfortable

Cons

• Didn't help me fall asleep
• Didn't help me sleep through the night

My verdict: The theory behind eyemasks and their positive effects is fairly sound. By blocking out light when you're trying to sleep, eye masks help to support your body's natural circadian system.

Excessive light has never been a huge hindrance to me when it comes to sleep, but the few times I’ve needed an eyemask, I’ve been grateful to have one on hand. 

The MyHalos Blackout Memory Foam Sleep Mask is one of the eye masks our health and wellbeing researchers selected to test to find the best eye masks. It's incredibly comfortable and did a bang-up job of blocking out light. 

I made a point of using the MyHalos in the late summer when the sun was still rising early and setting late to make the most of it. 

I didn’t notice a huge difference in my sleep patterns while using it, so it’s impossible to say if it ‘worked’ or not. However, if I were to recommend an eyemask, I'd be happy to recommend this one.

Read our rundown of the best eye masks for sleeping. 

Epsom salts

Pros

• None for me

Cons

• Didn't help me fall asleep
• Didn't help me sleep through the night

My verdict: Magnesium sulfate is more commonly referred to as Epsom salts or bath salts. 

It's long been touted for its various restorative properties when added to hot water and used as a soak. 

According to its advocates, Epsom salts can soothe muscle pain, aid or hasten physical recovery from injury, relieve stress, encourage restful sleep, treat chronic pain and lessen the intensity of migraines. 

While there is little scientific evidence to support these claims, a number of my co-workers told me they swear by Epsom salts so I was still keen to see if they had any effect on my ability to fall asleep. Even if the science didn’t suggest it would work, one cannot discount the placebo effect. 

As its placement in this list suggests, though, Epsom salts sadly didn’t work for me, placebo effect or not. 

Putting the science aside for a minute, I suspect the main reason that Epsom salts did nothing for my sleep is down to my general distaste for baths. 

Bathing involves far too much faffing about for my liking, and each time I attempted an Epsom salt soak, my mind began cataloguing the more enjoyable or productive things I could be doing instead. Hardly the right mindset for bedtime. 

It took me just as long, if not longer, to fall asleep. That said, I didn’t notice any major disruption in my sleep once I had drifted off. 

While I do not doubt that Epsom salts are an effective treatment for others, my inability (or unwillingness) to embrace the bathtub meant that this treatment was a total wash out.

Ear plugs

Pros

• Effectively blocks out sound
• Comforable

Cons

• Didn't help me fall asleep
• Didn't help me sleep through the night
• Triggered my anxiety 

My verdict: I’m not going to spend much time explaining the obvious benefit of earplugs when it comes to sleep. Put simply, noise can disrupt sleep, so a device that blocks out sounds is likely to help; this is especially true for light sleepers. 

Unfortunately, of all the devices I tested, earplugs were the ones I was dreading the most. To explain, I need to briefly discuss my childhood. 

I grew up in South Africa, a country famous for many things, not least of all its exceptionally high violent crime rate. 

Aggravated burglary is particularly common in South Africa, and I can recall at least three instances during my childhood and teenage years where criminals attempted to break into our family home while we were asleep. 

Old habits die hard, and even though such crimes are rare in the UK, I still struggle with the idea of cutting off my ability to hear while I sleep. Wearing the Alpine SleepDeep Ear Plugs I tried made me too anxious to fall asleep, and when I did finally drift off, my sleep was restless. 

As with Epsom salts, I put this down to my own baggage rather than a faulty or ineffective product. To be clear, the earplugs are incredibly effective at their stated purpose. They do an excellent job of blocking out all sounds; the only issue is that blocking out sound makes me sleep worse, not better. 

You can read the full verdict on earplugs in our guide on the best earplugs for sleep.

White noise machines

Pros

• Portable
• Easy to use

Cons

• Tinny speakers
• Poor white noise options
• Didn't help me fall asleep
• Didn't help me sleep through the night

My verdict: While I blame my own baggage for the failure of the earplugs and Epsom salts to improve my sleep, when it comes to the Dreamegg noise machine, the fault lies with the product. 

I’ve actually found white, pink, and brown noises to be quite helpful in the past, particularly the sound of a fan, crashing waves, or gentle rainfall. So I was surprised at how disappointed I was with the Dreamegg White Noise Machine. 

The design of the Dreamegg is generally well thought out. The device is compact and portable, making it easy to travel with, and the controls are intuitive. The pros end there, however, because the device fails where it counts, namely in the quality of the noise it produces. 

The Dreamegg has three sound categories: white noise, baby sounds, and nature sounds. 

The baby sounds are instrumental lullabies, so they are of little use to me. 

The natural sounds were pleasant in theory, but the speaker sounded so tinny that it detracted heavily from the overall effect. 

I was hoping for some simple fan sounds from the white noise category, but instead was treated to strange industrial noises that wouldn’t be out of place in a David Lynch film. Not the sort of dreamscape I had in mind.  

I was too distracted by the awful audio quality, and to be frank, the creepy soundscapes offered by the Dreamegg to get much joy out of it. 

What did an Oxford University sleep professor make of my findings? 

At the end of my testing phase, I was curious to get someone who eats, breathes and sleeps sleep research to weigh in on what I'd found.

To validate my findings, I consulted Professor Russell Foster director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford. 

Our discussion centered on the physiological intersection of circadian rhythms and cognitive impairment, specifically how chronic anxiety disrupts the body’s natural sleep-wake architecture.

When I challenged the Professor on whether the sleep aids I'd tried merely serve as a crutch rather than a cure, his assessment was this:

The most potent cure for insomnia is the active mitigation of psychological stress, so provided what you're trying is safe and measurably improves your sleep quality by helping you with this, why not keep doing it.