What to Actually Take, by Goal: Sleep, Focus, Strength, Heart, Immunity, Aging
This is a short, opinionated map of what actually has evidence behind it across six common goals — sleep, focus, strength, heart, immunity, and aging — with no more than four picks each. The honest answer to “what should I take?” rarely exceeds those four items per goal, and the list barely changes as new fads cycle through. Every pick here is drawn from Tier 1 or Tier 2 evidence in the SupplementScore database, while almost everything else trending is still provisional. Use it as a starting shortlist, not a prescription, and match the specific picks and doses to your own situation.
Six goals, four supplements each. Tier 1 / 2 evidence only — no trending wishful thinking. If you've ever opened a "stack builder" and wished it was 80% shorter, this is that page.
Sleep
- Magnesium glycinate — 200–400 mg pre-bed.
- Glycine — 3 g pre-bed; improves measurable sleep quality.
- Melatonin — 0.1–0.5 mg, physiological micro-dose.
- L-Theanine — 200 mg, calming without sedation.
Focus
- Caffeine + L-theanine — 100 mg / 200 mg, the cleanest cognitive combo in trials.
- Creatine — 3–5 g/day, now meta-analysed for cognition.
- Omega-3 — 1–2 g EPA+DHA daily.
- Rhodiola rosea — 200–600 mg for fatigue resistance.
Strength
- Creatine monohydrate — 3–5 g/day.
- Whey + leucine — 20–40 g whey + 2.5 g leucine post-training.
- Beta-alanine — 3.2–6.4 g/day for high-intensity buffering.
- Sodium bicarbonate — 0.3 g/kg pre-event for acid-base buffering.
Heart
- High-dose EPA — 2–4 g (REDUCE-IT dosing).
- Psyllium husk — 7 g (FDA coronary heart disease claim).
- Oat beta-glucan — 3 g (FDA cholesterol claim).
- CoQ10 100–300 mg or Vitamin K2 (MK-7) 90–180 µg.
Immunity
- Zinc lozenges — 13–24 mg at first symptom onset.
- Vitamin D3 — 1,000–4,000 IU/day.
- Cranberry — 500 mg with standardised PAC for UTIs.
- L. rhamnosus GG — 10 billion CFU/day.
Healthy aging
- Protein — 1.2–1.6 g/kg/day (PROT-AGE).
- Creatine — 3–5 g for muscle and cognition.
- Vitamin D3 — 1,000–2,000 IU/day.
- Riboflavin — 400 mg/day if migraine-prone.