I stopped hiking three years ago. This photo is from Tuesday.
By Carol B., 63 · as told to Root Labs
Reviewed by Dr. Alan Christianson, NMD · Published Aug 25, 2026 · 6 min read · 187,462 views
I fall asleep fine. That was never the trouble. The trouble was 3am, every night, wide awake, doing the math on how many hours I had left. This is what finally changed it, and why I had the wrong idea about what was wrong.
There is a ridge trail about forty minutes from my house. I walked it most weekends for eleven years.
Then I stopped. It was not my legs, I want to be clear about that, because it is what everyone assumes. I was simply too tired to face it. The kind of tired that makes a trail you know by heart look like a mountain.
I sold my boots at a garage sale that spring. A woman gave me eight dollars for them. I told myself I did not need them any more.
What I actually meant was that I could not imagine using them again. My walking friend put it plainly one afternoon. She said I looked wrung out. I had no answer for her, because I was.
Photographed at home. Individual results vary.
“At my age, isn't being tired all the time just normal?”
I told everyone it was my knees. I told myself it was just what 63 looks like.
It was neither.
I was falling asleep fine every night. I just could not stay asleep, wide awake at three, most nights, for years. I had stopped thinking of it as a problem. It was simply how I slept.
Staying asleep turns out to be a completely different thing from falling asleep. And it has a completely different fix.
Falling asleep was never my problem. Staying asleep was. And staying asleep has a completely different fix.
What finally worked
The part no one had told me
Here is the thing I wish someone had said years earlier. Falling asleep and staying asleep are two different things, and they have two different fixes. I had been treating the wrong one the whole time.
What a friend finally put in front of me was Root Labs Magnesium + Ashwagandha Sleep Gummies. Not a sleeping pill. They do not knock you out. Magnesium and ashwagandha work on the part of sleep that keeps you under, helping your body settle its night-time stress signals so you are less likely to surface at 3am and lie there. Two gummies before bed. That is the whole routine.
I am not going to tell you it was magic. The first few nights felt about the same. By the second week I was waking once instead of three times. Now most nights I do not wake at all, and when the alarm goes off I am the one who is already up.
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Women her age
Not one of them expected it to be this simple
★★★★★
Two years ago I could not finish my own neighbourhood loop without sitting down. I walked two miles this morning and was not tired when I got back.
Denise, 60 · Michigan
★★★★★
For two years I did not run at all. I told everyone it was my knees. The truth is I was exhausted. I ran three miles this morning.
Paula, 59 · Florida
★★★★★
I could not get down onto the mat for two years. I am out there stretching every morning now.
Ruth, 65 · Colorado
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One honest thing before you decide
Ashwagandha can interact with some medicines, including blood-pressure medication, thyroid medication, and GLP-1 medication. If you take any of those, please check with your doctor first. This is not a reason to be scared of it. It is a reason to ask one question at your next call. I would rather you be sure than sorry.
The questions I still had
I take medication. Is this safe for me?
Ashwagandha can interact with blood-pressure, thyroid, and GLP-1 medications. If you take any of those, ask your doctor before starting. For most people it is a simple yes, but the question is worth asking.
How long before it works?
Most people notice fewer wake-ups by the second week. The first few nights may feel about the same. That is why we give you 30 nights, and every penny back if it does not work for you.
Why a gummy and not a pill?
Two reasons. It is easy to take, nothing to swallow with water at bedtime, and a gummy is a gentler, food-based way to get magnesium and ashwagandha than a large capsule.
Why is there no melatonin in it?
Melatonin helps some people fall asleep. Your trouble is different, it is staying asleep, and melatonin does not do much for that. It can also leave you groggy in the morning. This is built for the staying-asleep problem instead.
So here is where you are. You can keep doing what I did, wake at 3am tonight, blame your age in the morning, and hope it sorts itself out. Or you can try it for 30 nights, and if you are not sleeping through, send it back and pay nothing.
I waited a long time to find out it was fixable. You do not have to.
Try it for 30 nights
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P.S. If you skipped to the bottom: I could fall asleep fine, I just could not stay asleep, and I spent years blaming my age for it. Root Labs Magnesium + Ashwagandha Sleep Gummies help you stay asleep, two before bed. $37, now $27.99 for your first 30 nights. If you are not sleeping through the night in 30 nights, every penny back.
