Sleep has become one of the most crowded categories in the supplement aisle, and it is still growing. According to Fortune Business Insights,1 the global sleep supplements market was valued at $8.55 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.38% to reach $17.65 billion by 2034. Within that broader market, botanical extracts are increasingly in demand as formulators and consumers alike seek ingredients that support the body’s own stress and relaxation pathways.
“The conversation is shifting from simply inducing sleep to addressing the underlying causes of restlessness, such as stress, nervous system imbalance, and physical discomfort,” said Maggie McNamara, vice president of global marketing at Saanroo. “As a result, interest in ingredients that support systemic balance is growing.”
The Stress-Sleep Axis: Ashwagandha and Bacopa
These 2 well-researched botanicals in this space work by calming the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the system that governs the body’s cortisol response to stress. “Cortisol follows a daily rhythm: high in the morning to get you going, low by the time you go to bed,” explained Kartikeya Baldwa, CEO of Ixoreal Biomed Inc. “When stress disrupts that rhythm, you arrive at 11 pm with a body that still thinks it’s mid-afternoon.”
In a study, 300 mg of Ixoreal’s KSM-66 full-spectrum ashwagandha root extract twice daily was found to decrease serum cortisol by 27.9% over 60 days.2 “What it does is help the body manage stress, and stress is what keeps most people awake,” said Baldwa. “It isn’t a sedative and doesn’t act like one, which is exactly what many consumers want: not to be switched off, but to stop arriving at bedtime still braced.”
Another ashwagandha option is Arjuna Natural’s Shoden, which works by upregulating GABAAρ1 and histamine H3 receptor expression in glial cells, and enhancing EEG slow-wave (delta) activity associated with deeper non-REM sleep.3 In a clinical study, participants taking 120 mg daily for 6 weeks reported a 72% improvement in sleep quality alongside reductions in sleep-onset latency and waking after falling asleep.4
Samriddh’s B-Lit Bacopa Bacopa monnieri extract works on a related but distinct pathway. Company founder Aditya Jain describes the ingredient’s effect on sleep as “an adaptogenic action on the HPA axis,” with research finding a 33.38% reduction in serum cortisol levels and improvements in self-reported sleep quality.5 In a follow-up study using wrist actigraphy, the ingredient was associated with a 28-minute increase in total sleep time and an 8.61% improvement in sleep efficiency.6 Broader bacopa research also points to secondary benefits for cognitive and emotional well-being.7
Because ashwagandha and bacopa both address cortisol dysregulation, formulators can position either as the stress management backbone of a sleep formula. Then, they can layer in ingredients like L-theanine or magnesium for added relaxation, lavender to round out the calming effect, or melatonin for circadian timing.
Ixoreal tested this principle in a study8 examining 200 adults for 8 weeks, assigned to take either 600 mg per day of KSM-66, 3 mg per day of melatonin, a combination of the two, or a placebo. “The published results reported favorable outcomes for each ingredient individually, with the combination showing the most consistent changes across objective and subjective measures,” Baldwa explained, “which is what you’d expect when 2 ingredients contribute different things.”
Saffron’s Dual Role in Mood and Sleep
Saffron extract has also become central to the natural sleep support conversation. Saanroo’s Affron is clinically associated with improvements in sleep quality, insomnia symptom scores, and post-waking mood at doses of 14 to 28 mg daily, alongside measurable shifts in evening melatonin and cortisol concentrations.9 Maypro’s SaffonX showed similar results at 30 mg daily in an 8-week trial: improved mood, reduced perceived stress, better sleep quality, and lower serum cortisol.10
Mechanistically, both ingredients are understood to work through saffron’s active compounds, crocin and safranal, which McNamara describes as central in “blocking the reuptake of key brain chemicals, calming the body’s stress response system, and supporting a healthy inflammatory response.”11