8 hours in bed and still exhausted? 6 reasons people are waking up rested with a hot cocoa

1. His daughter had to knock on the truck window to wake him up

Thursday pickup, 3:10. Kyle was parked third in line at the middle school with the engine running and his head against the window, asleep. His daughter Maddie, 13, knocked on the glass until he jumped.

The dad in the truck behind him was laughing. "Dad, you go to bed before I do," she said. He did.

Lights out at 10:30, alarm at 6:30, 8 hours a night, and by 2 every afternoon he was at the gas station buying an energy drink to keep his eyes open.

2. He slept 10 hours on weekends and woke up feeling worse

Kyle figured he needed more sleep, so on weekends he slept 10 hours and woke up like he'd been hit by a truck. He bought blackout curtains, a $200 mattress topper and a cooling pillow.

A month of melatonin gave him strange dreams and a foggy first hour. His sleep ring showed 8 hours and a score in the 80s. Every one of those gave him more hours or a better bed.

None of them changed how he slept after he fell asleep.

3. The sleep-lab tech who laughed at his 8 hours

At a barbecue, Kyle bragged about his 8 hours. His buddy Danny, who runs the overnight shift at a sleep lab, laughed. "Time in bed tells me almost nothing. Your deep sleep comes in the first few hours.

Guys who go to bed wound up spend those hours tossing in light sleep.

Then between 2 and 4 your stress hormones start climbing, right when sleep is at its lightest, and you wake up over and over and don't remember it. You can be in bed 8 hours and barely touch deep sleep."

4. The cocoa Danny drinks after a night shift

Danny drinks Mellow after every night shift. It's a hot cocoa with no melatonin: one scoop in hot water or milk, 30 minutes before bed.

For falling asleep, L-theanine quiets the racing thoughts without knocking you out and magnesium glycinate relaxes your muscles.

For staying asleep through 2 to 4, ashwagandha lowers cortisol, the stress hormone that climbs before dawn: in its own 60-day trial it dropped 28% against 8% on placebo.

Valerian, jujube seed and reishi have been taken for sleep for centuries. Danny left a pouch on Kyle's truck seat.

5. Night 1 he felt nothing. Week 3 he woke up before the alarm.

Night 1: no difference he could feel. Night 5: he got up on the first alarm instead of the third. Week 2: his wife Amy pointed out he hadn't hit snooze in 9 days.

Week 3: he woke at 6:10, before the alarm, with a clear head, and sat on the edge of the bed trying to remember the last time that happened.

Week 4: he drove past the gas station at 2 without stopping for an energy drink, and didn't notice until he was back at the shop.

6. At pickup, Maddie found him awake and leaning on his tailgate

6 weeks in, Kyle was leaning on his tailgate at pickup, talking to the dad who had laughed at him that Thursday.

Maddie climbed in and talked about her science test the whole way home, and he asked her about it at dinner. Same 10:30 bedtime, and he's up before the alarm. One pouch is 30 cups.

Your first box comes with a free sleep mask and frother, and shipping is free. If you aren't sleeping better within 60 nights, email us and we refund every dollar, and you keep the pouch.