Until recently, I looked forward every evening to going to bed, yet I dreaded trying to fall asleep. Personal and professional life stressors—resumption of remote learning for two of my three kids; looming work deadlines; my mother’s recent death—turned my mind into a human snowglobe. Even when exhaustion let me fall asleep, my swirling thoughts would then keep me awake for an hour (or longer) after getting up for a middle-of-the-night pee.

So I was thrilled when I discovered ZzzQuil PURE Zzzs Restorative Herbal Sleep tablets. It’s a mouthful of a name for the two small, smooth tablets I now regularly take about an hour before bedtime. Unlike other sleep aids I’ve taken (and I’ve tried more than my fair share!), PURE Zzzs eases me gently into sleep. Once or twice after taking my nightly dose, I’ve suddenly had to drive a teen here or pick one up there, and I wasn’t groggy behind the wheel. Instead, when I eventually climbed under the covers, I drifted comfortably into a deep, restorative sleep.

How deep and restorative? A few times I’ve woken up about two hours after going to bed, and I honestly felt so well rested, I guessed it must be close to my alarm going off for a pre-dawn run. Nope: Each time it was still before midnight. Then I do a silent, mental fist-pump—and flip over for more hours of zzz’s!

I appreciate that ZzzQuil PURE Zzzs are made with a drug-free botanical blend that contains clinically studied (and effective) valerian root, hops, and passion flower, and that it’s free of melatonin. I’m no chemist, but I do know this formulation—and absence of certain ingredients—means two troubling side effects of a lot of sleep aids aren’t an issue with PURE Zzzs: taking PURE Zzzs doesn’t make my mouth as dry as the Mojave Desert (ugh, hate that!), and the aqua-blue tablets don’t produce vivid, lurid dreams!

Final reason I’m sold on PURE Zzzs? They are non-habit forming. So until my life (and my mind) settles down (will that time ever come?!), I’m going to keep taking those two blue tablets every evening.

While I was able to get on a great sleep schedule with ZzzQuil PURE Zzzzs rather quickly, some people may need to take the product longer to achieve optimal sleep benefits. Use nightly for 7 days for best results.