What is the half-life of Glycine?

Glycine has a half-life of ~3-4 hours, which is why it's typically administered Once daily, 30-60 minutes before bedtime for optimal therapeutic effect.

How do I reconstitute Glycine?

Add bacteriostatic water to the peptide vial slowly down the side. Typical reconstitution uses 2-3ml of water for a 5mg vial. Gently swirl, do not shake.

Healing & Recovery

Preclinical

Glycine

Also known as: Gly, Aminoacetic Acid, Glycocoll

Overview

Key Facts

Primary Goal: The simplest amino acid and an inhibitory neurotransmitter that acts at glycine receptors and as a co-agonist at NMDA receptors

The simplest amino acid and an inhibitory neurotransmitter that acts at glycine receptors and as a co-agonist at NMDA receptors. Glycine is one of the most well-evidenced and accessible sleep aids, with multiple randomized controlled trials demonstrating improvements in sleep quality, reduced sleep onset latency, and enhanced next-day cognitive performance. It lowers core body temperature — a key physiological trigger for sleep onset — and modulates central nervous system excitability. Half-Life ~3-4 hours Typical Dose 3000–5000 mg Frequency Once daily, 30-60 minutes before bedtime Cycle Length Continuous use; no cycling required

Dosing Information

Half-Life

~3-4 hours

Typical Dose

3000–5000 mg

Frequency

Once daily, 30-60 minutes before bedtime

Cycle Length

Continuous use; no cycling required

Administration Routes:

oral

Storage & Reconstitution

Unreconstituted (Powder)

Temperature15–25°C (59–77°F)

DurationUp to 3 months

Reconstituted (Mixed)

Temperature15–25°C (59–77°F)

Duration2-4 weeks

Research Summary

Preclinical

Multiple double-blind, placebo-controlled RCTs published in Sleep and Biological Research (Yamadera et al., 2007; Bannai et al., 2012; Inagawa et al., 2006) demonstrated that 3g of glycine before bedtime significantly improved subjective sleep quality, reduced sleep onset latency, and enhanced next-day performance on cognitive tasks. Polysomnography data showed faster transition to slow-wave sleep. The mechanism was elucidated by Kawai et al. (2015), who demonstrated that glycine acts on NMDA receptors in the SCN to trigger peripheral vasodilation and core temperature reduction — a physiological prerequisite for sleep onset. Glycine has GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status with the FDA.