Ingredient Spotlight — GABA (PharmaGABA®) · PM Formula

Putting the Day Down

The workday ends. Your stress chemistry doesn't get the memo. A human study measured what a small dose of a fermented amino acid did to the body's stress markers — the ones still running high when you're trying to wind down.

You've left the office, physically. But the day is still in your bloodstream — the low hum of cortisol that keeps your mind rehearsing tomorrow while your body waits to rest. That carryover is why "I'm exhausted but wired" is a real, measurable state, not a mood. It shows up in your saliva. And that means it can be studied.

The trial

Researchers gave 30 healthy adults a beverage containing 0, 25, or 50 mg of GABA and measured both how fatigued they felt (validated mood scales) and two physiological stress markers in saliva — chromogranin A and cortisol.

What they found

• Stress markers came down. Salivary chromogranin A and cortisol dropped significantly at both 25 and 50 mg of GABA versus control — the body's stress signals dialing back.
• Felt fatigue eased. Psychological fatigue was significantly lower with 50 mg of GABA on two separate scales.
• A calmer baseline. The effect appeared across both subjective feeling and objective biology at once.

The authors concluded GABA "may help reduce both psychological and physical fatigue," and the drop in cortisol and chromogranin A is the part that matters most at night.

You can't will your stress chemistry to clock out. This is evidence you can help it settle.

Why it's in the PM formula

A nighttime formula's real job is lowering the day's carryover so rest can actually begin. PharmaGABA® is here because it moved the exact markers that keep a busy mind switched on — cortisol and chromogranin A — measurably, in humans. Paired with L-theanine and taken in the evening, that's the wind-down working at the level of your biology, not just your bedtime routine.

Reference: Kanehira T, Nakamura Y, Nakamura K, et al. Relieving occupational fatigue by consumption of a beverage containing γ-amino butyric acid. Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology. 2011;57(1):9–15. doi:10.3177/jnsv.57.9.
Read it: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21512285

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.