A Natural Sleep Aid Made by CrossFitters for CrossFitters: Meet Thirdzy

Like many of us during the pandemic, Thirdzy co-founder, Dr. Justine Luchini became more attuned to her quality of sleep – or lack thereof. Instead of just accepting the poor sleep her tracker was telling her she was getting, Dr. Luchini decided to do something about it. 

Dr. Luchini wanted to support her natural sleep cycles with a clean supplement that was effective and safe to use regularly. But she found no products that were free of melatonin or CBD. Using her expertise in health science and biochemistry, she created her own stack of minerals and amino acids that support healthy sleep. This sleep stack has become her product called Thirdzy, which is a holistic sleep support that focuses on improving the fundamental quality of your sleep health. 

• “Even though I was sleeping enough hours, I wasn’t getting good quality sleep. So, this feeling of waking up in the morning and not feeling rested and feeling super rundown all the time…I realized it had less to do with can I fall asleep and more to do with what was actually happening while I was sleeping,” said Dr. Luchini, referring to the period of time when she bought a sleep tracker during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• After extensively researching existing supplements for sleep and overnight recovery, Dr. Luchini, (also a CrossFit athlete and former coach) said she realized that there was nothing for people who were concerned with their physical and mental performance or functional fitness. There was nothing that was formulated to help with improving HRV or calming the CNS so you can actually see a sustained lowering of heart rate or respiratory rate at night, nothing made to do the important job of helping the active recovery processes that happen during sleep.
• She began going down a rabbit hole on sleep science and nutrition trying to solve for better sleep and recovery – more deep sleep, more REM sleep, better muscle recovery – all of the things that lead to better mornings and better workouts. And “that led to my own little sleep stack that my husband, Adam and I were taking.”
• “And, you know, one day Adam [the other Thirdzy co-founder] and I looked at each other and we were like, if we’re using this and benefiting from this, and it’s something that we couldn’t buy, maybe other athletes also need this.”

Thirdzy, which launched in February 2022, is a pre-bed drink powder. It is a potent blend of amino acids and nutrients that fuel sleep and recovery. Thirdzy is completely free of sedatives, melatonin and CBD. 

Specifically, the powder has a collagen base, which is “a really important anabolic building block for your muscles, for the connective tissue around your muscles, for your joints, and for your bones. The most dominant protein parts are all collagen based, so having that at night when your body’s in its most important anabolic state, in that building phase, is really important,” said Dr. Luchini. 

The major sleep benefit to having collagen as a core ingredient in Thirdzy, is the large amount of the amino acid glycine that it provides. Collagen is 33% glycine, which studies have shown can help lower your core body temperature—an essential part of deep sleep. Dr. Luchini adds, “Other studies have shown people who take glycine before bed have improved sleep quality and report less daytime fatigue.” 

[Pro tip: If you’re already taking collagen, switch to taking it before bed!]

“It also has L-theanine, magnesium, and GABA. Which each play slightly different roles in helping your nervous system to calm down, helping to slow down anxious thoughts, counter-acting over stimulation, and decreasing sleep interruptions. They naturally support your own production of the chemicals that your brain needs to sustain good quality sleep,” said Dr. Luchini. 

The attitude toward rest and recovery has really evolved in fitness and Crossfit. 

• Luchini got her L-1 and started coaching in 2013. She has spent a decade witnessing the evolution of the CrossFit athlete: “Athletes train more intelligently now and they’re really looking for longevity in their training. Even if they’re not interested in competing, people care about maintaining their health and functionality over a long period of time. We know that training is essential to this, and increasingly, that the magic really happens when we recover from training. It’s been really cool to see the rest and recovery portion of the conversation become more prominent. People get now that you can’t do ‘no rest days’ and crush yourself day after day and expect great results or even to remain mostly injury-free.”
• Good sleep is “fundamental to your metabolic health. Whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, prep for a competition, or just feel good, ignoring your sleep is ignoring a huge piece of the puzzle. And we’ve figured out how we can supply athletes with nutrients and amino acids that support the actual functional part of sleep – so you can do sleep better, so that your fitness can be better, and so you can actually feel good while training consistently.” 

Those who purchase Thirdzy should know taking the powder won’t ‘knock you out’ and “that is intentional,” said Dr. Luchini. 

Thirdzy “is almost like a pre-workout for your sleep. It really helps you get into the right state to get the most out of the hours you’re asleep. It’s not going to do the work for you. It’s not going to turn off the lights, or carve out the eight hours that you need, but it is going to help you get more out of the time that you spend doing it.” 

If you’re interested in giving Thirdzy a try, Morning Chalk Up readers get a special discount. Use code: MCUZ for 20% off your first order.