Pinealon: a sleep experiment, written down before the result
I am publishing the setup before I know the answer, so I cannot quietly rewrite the question later.
Goal: More REM sleep without giving up deep sleep.
The decision
I heard the idea on a podcast: a small dose in the middle of the night, at a natural waking, instead of at bedtime. The claim is that bedtime dosing eats into deep sleep, while a dose after the deep-sleep part of the night pushes REM. That is one man's memory of his own sleep tracker, not a study. He has since stopped taking it.
Before running it I had the research pulled. It is thin: a handful of small Russian studies, mostly from the group that invented it, none of which measured sleep. The timing logic holds up, though. Most REM comes in the second half of the night.
I took my first dose at about 2 am on October 12, 500 mcg with glycine, before the research was even back. Then I read it and pulled back. The plan now is small and boring on purpose: 250 mcg with 3 grams of glycine at the 2 am waking, every third night, no alarm, and if I sleep through a dose night I skip it. Off nights get nothing, so I have something to compare against.
What happened
Too early to say. I set the bar before starting: at the two-week read on October 26, dose nights need to show at least 15 more minutes of deep plus REM sleep, or 10 fewer minutes awake, and I need to feel clear on most mornings with no grogginess. If 250 mcg shows nothing and causes nothing, I can try 500. I will update this page either way.
Timeline
- Oct 6, 2026
Plan set: mid-night waking, with glycine, every third night.
- Oct 12, 2026
First dose, 500 mcg at the 2 am waking. Research read lands; plan cut to 250 mcg every third night.
- Oct 16, 2026
First dose night on the new plan.
- Oct 26, 2026
Two-week read against the bar set in advance. This page gets updated.
The graded evidence
One person's experience, from his own dosing log. It is not advice and it does not change any grade on this site. Talk to a licensed clinician before you act on anything here.