The Slumbr Journal

Journal

Evidence-based clinical writing on insomnia, sleep medicine, and the patterns we treat. Reviewed by an HPCSA-registered specialist physician with sleep-medicine training.

Cannabis

Cannabis, CBD and Sleep: What the Evidence Supports in South Africa

The CBD you can legally buy in SA is capped at 20 mg a day and legally cannot claim to treat insomnia. What the evidence actually shows.

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17 Sep 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Caffeine

Caffeine and Sleep: Half-Life, Cut-Off Times and the Coffee You Think Is Fine

Caffeine six hours before bed cut measured sleep by over an hour, and the people it happened to did not notice. What that means for your cut-off time.

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14 Sep 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Alcohol

Alcohol and Sleep: Why a Nightcap Wrecks the Second Half of the Night

Alcohol gets you to sleep faster and then takes the second half of the night away. What is happening, and why the 3am waking is so predictable.

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10 Sep 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Evidence based

Valerian, Chamomile, L-Theanine: Herbal Sleep Aids Reviewed Honestly

Which non-prescription sleep ingredients have real evidence, which do not, and which we removed from our own formulation. Including the ones we dropped.

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7 Sep 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Evidence based

Magnesium for Sleep: What the Evidence Actually Supports

Three small trials, 17 minutes faster to sleep, and low-quality evidence. An honest read of what magnesium does and does not do for sleep.

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7 Sep 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Burnout

Burnout and Sleep: Exhausted All Day, Wired at Night

Too tired to function, too wired to sleep. Why burnout produces that combination, and why it is worth checking it is not something else.

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7 Sep 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Evidence based

Saffron for Sleep: What the Trials Actually Show

Saffron extract has better randomised evidence for sleep quality than most of the supplement aisle. What the trials found, who it suits, and what to check.

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5 Sep 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Evidence based

Magnesium Glycinate for Sleep: Why the Form Matters (and Why It Does Not)

Glycinate is the best-tolerated magnesium, not the best-proven one for sleep. What the trials show, what the glycine adds, and where it fits a routine.

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5 Sep 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Depression

Depression and Sleep: When Early Waking Is a Mood Symptom

Waking hours before you intend, with low mood and no interest in things you used to enjoy, is a recognised pattern. Sedating it is the wrong move.

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3 Sep 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Anxiety

Anxiety and Insomnia: Which One Is Driving the Other?

Anxiety and insomnia feed each other. The useful question is not which came first, but which one is keeping the cycle going now.

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31 Aug 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Cbt i

Racing Thoughts at Night: Why Your Mind Speeds Up When You Lie Down

Your mind speeds up at bedtime because the distractions stopped, not because something is wrong with you. What helps, and what makes it worse.

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27 Aug 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team

Safety

Why Sleeping Tablets Are the Wrong Answer for Undiagnosed Sleep Apnoea

Sedating an untreated airway problem does not fix it. Why a physician-led South African sleep clinic screens for sleep apnoea before prescribing anything.

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24 Aug 2026 · Slumbr Clinical Team