By Roy Newlan, founder Last updated 13/08/2026
A third of every Settl scoop is glycine. It's the biggest active in the formula by weight, and the one most people have never heard of. This page covers what it is, what it does at night, and why the dose is 3,000mg.
What is glycine?
Glycine is the smallest amino acid, and it tastes slightly sweet. You already eat it every day, mostly in collagen-rich foods like slow-cooked cuts, bone broth and skin-on chicken.
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and glycine is the simplest of the lot. Its name comes from the Greek word for sweet, which turns out to matter later on this page. The body makes some of its own, and the rest comes from food. Modern diets lean towards lean muscle meat and away from the collagen-rich cuts that carry the most of it, so plenty of us get less from dinner than we used to.
What does glycine do at night?
Glycine smooths the wind-down. Taken before bed, it supports the body's natural drop in core temperature, one of the signals that sleep is on its way.
Your core temperature falls slightly as you head into sleep, and that fall is part of how the body knows it's time. Research on glycine before bed has centred on that shift, and on how rested people report feeling the next morning.
Glycine isn't a knockout. It doesn't force sleep from the outside, it works with the signals the body already sends. That's the difference between a wind-down and a shutdown, and it's the side of the line we want every Settl active on.
Why is the dose 3,000mg?
The dose is 3,000mg because that's the level the evidence commonly examines. Research on glycine and sleep typically uses doses around 3 grams, taken before bed.
Dose is the least glamorous part of a formula and the most important. When glycine turns up in a blend at 100mg or 200mg, it's there for the label, not for you. We dosed it at the level the research actually uses, or we wouldn't have bothered including it.
One honest footnote. Magnesium glycinate, another of our actives, is magnesium bound to glycine, so each scoop carries slightly more glycine than the 3,000mg on the panel. We advertise the added amount because it's the conservative number.
Why not just take glycine capsules?
3,000mg of glycine doesn't fit in a capsule. A proper dose means 4 to 6 large capsules, every single night, and almost nobody keeps that up.
| Format | Getting 3,000mg of glycine |
|---|---|
| Large capsules | 4 to 6 capsules, swallowed one by one |
| Loose bulk powder | A separate tub you measure and flavour yourself |
| Settl | A third of the one scoop you already take |
This is a big part of why Settl is a powder. A capsule has a hard size ceiling, so capsule products face a choice: dose glycine low, or ask you to swallow a handful. A drink has no ceiling. And glycine's slight sweetness, a non-event inside a shell, is genuinely useful in a glass. It carries part of the passionfruit flavour instead of hiding from you.
Why is glycine the biggest active in the scoop?
Because the dose that matters is a gram-scale dose. At 3,000mg per serve, glycine makes up a third of the 9g scoop, more than any other active.
| Active in each 9g scoop | Delivers per serve |
|---|---|
| Glycine | 3,000mg |
| Sodium | ~999mg sodium (from sodium chloride) |
| Inositol | 900mg |
| L-theanine | 200mg |
| Potassium | ~200mg potassium (from potassium citrate) |
| Magnesium glycinate | 146mg elemental magnesium (from 730mg of the compound) |
| Chamomile flower extract 45:1 | 50mg, about 2.25g dried flower equivalent |
Some actives earn their place in milligrams. The chamomile extract is concentrated 45 to 1, so 50mg of it carries the equivalent of roughly 2.25g of dried flower. Glycine has no concentrated form. The dose is the dose, and it weighs what it weighs. The full panel, including what each form delivers, is on the ingredients page.
How does glycine fit with the other actives?
Glycine handles the wind-down, and the other six actives cover what it doesn't. No single ingredient in Settl is asked to do everything.
L-theanine settles the head when your thoughts won't slow down. Chamomile quiets the residue of the day. Inositol steadies the night. Magnesium glycinate helps the body unwind, and brings its own small glycine bonus along for the ride. Underneath all of it sits an electrolyte base of sodium and potassium, because overnight hydration is one of the quiet reasons people surface in the small hours. If that wake-up sounds familiar, we've covered the 3am wake-up on its own.
There's no melatonin in the scoop, on purpose.
One scoop, before bed
If the 3,000mg dose is what brought you here, it's in every scoop, alongside the other six actives. Cold water, one scoop, before bed.
Start your nightly ritual, $99.95/mo, or $120 one-time if you'd rather not subscribe. Prices inc. GST.
Cheers, Roy