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What's in WorkMode ON

01WORKMODE ON

Less caffeine than your flat white

There is a specific kind of morning where you have had two coffees, you are technically very awake, and yet you have read the same message four times without absorbing a single word of it. That is not focus. That is arousal wearing focus as a costume. Caffeine on its own does not tell your attention where to point.

WorkMode ON was built around that gap. Each 7g serving carries taurine (1,500mg), L-theanine (250mg), lion's mane extract (200mg), bacopa monnieri at 20% bacosides (150mg), rhodiola rosea (100mg), magnesium bisglycinate (100mg), caffeine (90mg) and a B-complex with vitamins C, D3 and zinc. Ninety milligrams of caffeine is roughly one flat white, and less than most pre-workouts give you before they have finished saying hello. That was a decision, not a cost saving.

02THE ENGINE

Caffeine plus L-theanine, in that ratio

The 90mg of caffeine and 250mg of L-theanine are dosed as a pair, not as individuals, and it is one of the better-studied pairings in the whole nootropic aisle. In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study the two together improved attention-switching performance and reduced susceptibility to distraction, beating what either managed alone [2]. A separate placebo-controlled trial found the combination improved cognitive performance and increased subjective alertness [3]. Theanine on its own is more of an open question, with a 2025 meta-analysis reporting dose-dependent benefits and asking for larger trials [4]. Together is where the evidence sits, and together is how it is dosed.

The mechanism is simple. Caffeine raises arousal. Theanine raises alpha-wave activity, the brain state linked to calm, undistracted attention. Run them at a theanine-heavy ratio and you get the alertness with the edges filed off. Think of it as the difference between a sports car and a sports car with a steering wheel. Both are fast. Only one is useful on a Tuesday.

03THE SLOW BURN

Lion's mane and bacopa

Lion's mane (200mg) and bacopa monnieri (150mg) will not do anything dramatic on day one. They are not stimulants. They are the ingredients you notice in week three, when you realise you have stopped losing the thread halfway through a sentence.

Bacopa has the more established evidence: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials found it associated with improved speed of attention, with the effect showing up over sustained use rather than acutely [5]. The 20% bacosides standardisation matters, because bacosides are what those trials actually measure. Lion's mane is the newer, hotter one, and the picture is mixed: one placebo-controlled trial found faster Stroop reaction times an hour after a single dose plus a trend towards lower stress at 28 days [6], while a 2025 study found no acute effect on global cognition [7]. Promising and unfinished, which is how we will keep describing it, because the alternative is telling you a mushroom will rewire your brain by Friday. So caffeine and theanine handle today. These two are playing the longer game. A focus formula that only works for three hours is not a focus formula, it is a coffee with extra steps.

04THE SHOCK ABSORBERS

Rhodiola and magnesium

Rhodiola rosea (100mg) is the adaptogen with the most sensible reputation. A systematic review of randomised controlled trials found evidence supporting rhodiola's role in physical and mental fatigue [8], and a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in students during an exam period found a low-dose repeated regimen associated with reduced stress-related fatigue [9]. It is not stimulating in the way caffeine is. It is more like turning the difficulty setting down on a demanding morning.

Magnesium bisglycinate (100mg) is here because magnesium contributes to normal nervous system and muscle function, and because most people who drink a lot of coffee and sleep a bit badly are not exactly swimming in it. Bisglycinate is the well-tolerated form, which matters when you are drinking this at breakfast rather than at bedtime.

05THE PLUMBING

Taurine, B-complex and friends

The biggest number on the label is taurine at 1,500mg, and it is not there because energy drinks have it. Taurine is one of the most abundant amino acids in the body, involved in osmoregulation, which is the technical way of saying it helps your cells hold on to water, plus neuromodulation and cellular protection [10]. Alongside the magnesium and minerals it is doing hydration work, and hydration is not a filler benefit: a randomised study found mild dehydration in men associated with impaired cognitive performance and worsened mood [11]. The kind you achieve by waking up, drinking coffee, and then drinking nothing else until 11:00, which is standard operating procedure in most offices on earth.

The B-complex, vitamin C, D3 and zinc are the unglamorous crew. B vitamins act as cofactors throughout energy metabolism and neurotransmitter synthesis, and a comprehensive review makes the case that they are not optional extras but the machinery everything else runs on [12]. They do not give you energy. They let your cells make it.

06HOW TO USE

Two scoops, before 15:00

Two scoops into 250 to 300ml of cold water, at breakfast, and drink it within about ten minutes. Take it with food or shortly after eating: ninety milligrams of caffeine on a completely empty stomach is still ninety milligrams of caffeine on a completely empty stomach. Onset is typically around twenty minutes, with the useful focus window sitting in the two to three hour range.

Watch the clock. If the afternoon needs a second wind, that is what Power Hour is for, but keep all caffeine before 15:00. Caffeine consumed as much as six hours before bed has been shown to measurably disrupt sleep, and a great morning that ruins your night has not actually helped you [13]. Then let WorkMode OFF handle the landing.

What's in Power Hour

01POWER HOUR

Built for the 15:00 slump

Something happens at around three in the afternoon. You read a sentence, agree with it, and then discover you have no idea what it said. Researchers have studied it seriously enough to give it a name, the post-lunch dip, and it turns up in performance data even in people who skipped lunch entirely [14]. So it is not the sandwich. It is you, on schedule.

Power Hour was built for exactly that window. One effervescent tablet carries L-theanine (180mg), guarana seed extract at 22% caffeine (136mg), ginkgo biloba at 24% flavone glycosides (120mg), caffeine (100mg), vitamins B3, B6 and B12, and L-glutathione (25mg). Total caffeine works out to roughly 130mg from two sources, with no sugar. One tablet, one glass of water, one properly sharp hour.

02TWO-SPEED CAFFEINE

Anhydrous plus guarana

Caffeine anhydrous (100mg) is caffeine in its fastest, cleanest, most immediately available form. It works by blocking adenosine receptors, which is the mechanism behind essentially every alert feeling you have ever had from a cup of anything [1]. Dropped into water in an effervescent tablet, it is already dissolved before it reaches you, so there is no capsule shell for your stomach to argue with.

Guarana brings roughly another 30mg, but it brings it differently. Guarana seed is naturally rich in tannins and other plant compounds, which is why it has a reputation for a slower, more gradual release than isolated caffeine. A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis found acute guarana ingestion produced a small effect on response time, meaning faster performance on cognitive tasks, though not improved accuracy [15], an earlier randomised study found guarana extract improved cognitive performance and mood [16], and a recent trial compared it directly against a matched low dose of caffeine on mental performance [17]. The pairing is designed to smooth the curve rather than spike it.

03NO JITTERS

Theanine-forward by design

L-theanine (180mg) is the ingredient standing between you and typing an email in all caps. Theanine is associated with increased alpha-wave activity in the brain, the pattern linked to relaxed and undistracted attention. Paired with caffeine it has an unusually solid research record: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study found the combination improved attention-switching performance and reduced susceptibility to distraction more than either compound alone [2], and a separate placebo-controlled trial found it improved cognitive performance and increased subjective alertness [3].

At 180mg of theanine against roughly 130mg of total caffeine, the ratio is deliberately theanine-forward. The goal is a sharpened hour, not a racing heart and a strong opinion about the office kitchen.

04THE SUPPORTING CAST

Ginkgo, B vitamins and glutathione

Ginkgo biloba (120mg, standardised to 24% flavone glycosides) is traditionally associated with cerebral circulation. It is worth being straight about the evidence: a meta-analysis in healthy individuals concluded the case for ginkgo as a general cognitive enhancer is not conclusive [18], while other reviews in specific populations have found more favourable results [19]. We include it at a standardised 24% extract because that is the form the research uses, and because circulation is a sensible thing to support in a formula built around a single high-demand hour.

The B vitamins do not contain energy. They are the tools your cells use to release energy from the food that does: niacinamide (B3) is a precursor to NAD, B6 is a cofactor in neurotransmitter synthesis, and B12 is involved in normal energy-yielding metabolism [12]. At 15:00 your cells are not short of stimulation. They are several hours into the day's work. L-glutathione (25mg) rounds out the formula as the body's primary endogenous antioxidant [20]. It is a small dose and we are not going to oversell it. It is there on the reasonable principle that a formula built for demanding hours should include something that thinks about the cellular cost of demanding hours.

05WHY EFFERVESCENT

A tablet that makes you hydrate

Partly speed: the tablet dissolves fully before you drink it, so there is nothing left to break down. Most people notice it within about ten minutes of finishing the glass. And partly design. By mid-afternoon a large number of people are running mildly dehydrated without registering it, and a randomised study found mild dehydration associated with impaired cognitive performance and degraded mood [11]. The kind you achieve by drinking three coffees and nothing else since breakfast. A capsule asks you to sip water. A fizzy tablet requires 250 to 300ml of it. Sometimes good design is just making the right thing unavoidable.

06HOW TO USE

One tablet, before 15:00

Drop one tablet into 250 to 300ml of cold water. Wait about three minutes for the fizzing to finish. Drink it before the thing you actually need to be sharp for: the meeting, the deep-work block, the gym session, the last hour of admin. Best window is 11:00 to 15:00, up to two tablets a day if you need them, spaced out.

Now the important part. Do not take Power Hour after 15:00. Caffeine consumed six hours before bed has been shown to cause measurable sleep disruption, and most people are genuinely surprised by how long the tail is [13]. A brilliant afternoon that costs you an hour of sleep is not a win, it is a loan at a bad rate. If your mornings need help too, that is WorkMode ON. And when the day is done, WorkMode OFF handles the landing. Power Hour is the middle of the sandwich, not the whole meal.

What's in WorkMode OFF

01WORKMODE OFF

Switching off, by design

It is 22:47. Your body has been horizontal for forty minutes. Your brain, meanwhile, has decided this is the perfect moment to review an email you sent in 2019, calculate exactly how many hours of sleep you can still get if you fall asleep right now, and then run a short documentary about what would happen if your car was stolen. You are the reason WorkMode OFF exists.

Each 7g serving carries 5-HTP from Griffonia simplicifolia seed (100mg), L-theanine (200mg), chamomile extract (200mg), passionflower extract (75mg), magnesium bisglycinate (125mg), L-glutamine (500mg) and active vitamin B6 as P-5-P (10mg). Seven ingredients, one job: helping you actually switch off.

02RAW MATERIALS

5-HTP plus active B6

Your body makes its own melatonin, but it builds it in stages: tryptophan becomes 5-HTP, 5-HTP becomes serotonin, serotonin becomes melatonin. The first stage is the slow one, the traffic circle where everyone gets stuck. 5-HTP starts you past it, one enzyme away from serotonin [21]. That is the difference between this and a melatonin gummy. One hands your brain a finished hormone and hopes the timing is right. This hands your body the raw material and lets your own system run the schedule.

The 10mg of active B6 is why that step actually works. The enzyme that converts 5-HTP into serotonin needs a cofactor, and the cofactor is vitamin B6 in its P-5-P form [22][23]. So these two are not separate ingredients sharing a jar. One is the brick, the other is the bricklayer. Putting 5-HTP in a formula without active B6 is like buying flat-pack furniture and discovering the allen key is sold separately.

03VOLUME DOWN

Theanine, chamomile, passionflower, magnesium

What keeps most people awake at night is not their body. It is the replay. L-theanine (200mg) is aimed at the noise rather than the muscles, and it does that job without sedating you, which is why it does not leave you thick-headed at 06:30 the way an antihistamine sleep aid does. Dose is where most brands quietly cheat: a 2025 meta-analysis of randomised placebo-controlled trials found theanine's effects to be dose-dependent, with the clearer results at the higher end of the range [4]. Plenty of formulas include 50mg so they can print the word on the front of the tub. WorkMode OFF uses 200mg, because that is where the research lives.

Chamomile (200mg) is the one your gran was right about: a 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis found it associated with improved sleep quality scores and fewer awakenings after falling asleep, though it did not change total sleep duration [24]. It is less about adding hours and more about the hours you already have being less interrupted. Its most-studied compound, apigenin, is a flavonoid that interacts with the same receptor family your body already uses to calm itself down. Passionflower (75mg) got its own double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, associated with better subjective sleep quality over a seven-day period [25]. Small dose, specific job, decent evidence. Magnesium bisglycinate (125mg) is the muscle-and-mind one: a 2025 randomised, placebo-controlled trial in healthy adults reporting poor sleep found it associated with improved sleep outcomes [26]. The bisglycinate bit matters. It is magnesium bound to glycine, gentler on the gut than the cheap oxide form, and glycine itself is a calming amino acid.

04THE NIGHT SHIFT

L-glutamine and recovery

The 500mg of L-glutamine is the one people ask about, because it looks like it wandered in from a gym bag. It did not. Glutamine is the preferred fuel of the cells lining your intestine, and a 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis found glutamine supplementation associated with improvements in gut permeability measures in adults [27]. Night is when your body does its admin: repair, consolidation, tidying up. Glutamine is there so that admin has something to work with.

Sleep is not downtime. It is when memory consolidation and cognitive recovery actually happen, and the research on what goes missing without it is not subtle [28]. You are not resting. You are running the night shift.

05HOW TO USE

One scoop, 30 to 60 minutes before bed

One 7g scoop into 250 to 300ml of water, 30 to 60 minutes before bed. The 30 to 60 minutes is not padding. Give it a job to do in that window: stretch badly on the lounge floor, read something on paper, do the dishes, read the book you’ve committed to 20 pages a day. What you should not do is take it and then open TikTok, because no supplement on earth can out-compete an algorithm designed by people much cleverer than both of us.

If you have used Power Hour or WorkMode ON during the day, mind your timing. Caffeine taken as much as six hours before bed has been shown to measurably disrupt sleep, and most people underestimate this by roughly a full afternoon [13]. Caffeine before 15:00, OFF after 21:00, and the two never have to meet.

RESEARCH

The Evidence

We don't cherry-pick. Every functional claim on this page traces back to a numbered reference below, human trials and systematic reviews first. Where the evidence is mixed, as with lion's mane and ginkgo, we say so, and we keep each ingredient in the standardised form the research actually used. All three formulas are third-party tested, GMP manufactured, vegan and GMO free.

SAFETY

Who these are not for

None of these are for you if you are pregnant or nursing. Skip WorkMode ON and Power Hour if you are sensitive to caffeine or taking medication where a stimulant or an adaptogen could interfere. Ginkgo can interact with blood-thinning medication. And 5-HTP affects serotonin pathways, so WorkMode OFF should not be combined with serotonergic medication without a doctor's input. The conversation with your doctor or pharmacist takes two minutes and it beats guessing.

These statements have not been evaluated by SAHPRA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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