Synthetic nonapeptide studied for sleep and stress modulation

Delta sleep-inducing peptide

aka DSIP · emideltide · delta sleep peptide

Evidence grade
Grade C: Preliminary human data
for sleep
User score everyone · n = 12
US FDA Not approved checked 2026-11-13
WADA 2026 Not named no clearance either · checked 2026-11-13
EU No EMA authorization found; a secondary review found no DSIP medicine in the EU/EEA database as of September 2026. · checked 2026-11-13

Grade note: revised from B to C on independent review. The Russian registration the seat relied on is for a DSIP-plus-glycine nasal product for alcohol- and stress-related conditions, not for sleep, so it is not an approval for the marketed use; and a bare registration without an adequately reported trial does not lift a grade (same rule as thymalin, Semax, Selank).

Goals: Sleep Compare with another peptide →

User reports

approximate — combined from two independent Reddit reads

Men 45–60

0 men aged 45–60

No reports in this group yet.

All men

0 men

No reports in this group yet.

Everyone

12 people

  • Positive: 9 of 12 (75%)
  • Mixed: 1 of 12 (8%)
  • Negative: 1 of 12 (8%)
  • Unclear: 1 of 12 (8%)
Benefits reported of 12
Benefits reported (n = 12)
ItemReports
Sleep10 of 12 (83%)
Energy1 of 12 (8%)
Focus / cognition1 of 12 (8%)
Mood / anxiety1 of 12 (8%)
Other1 of 12 (8%)
Side effects reported of 12
Side effects reported (n = 12)
ItemReports
Insomnia2 of 12 (17%)
Vivid dreams2 of 12 (17%)
Heart rate up1 of 12 (8%)

Stopped 0 of 12 (0%) Used with other compounds 3 of 12 (25%)

User reports are anecdata, not evidence: self-selected, unverified, often combined with other compounds.

In their words

  • “it improved by Deep and REM sleep by about 40mins each!!”

  • “I felt really rested and sharp this morning, like I haven't in a long time.”

  • “When you stop using it the effects go away.”

  • “Deep sleep as the name implies. Deep Sleep Inducing Peptide. DSIP. My REM sleep is up. The dreams are amazing.”

  • “I incorporated DSIP and Epitalon into my stack and about the third day in I was having really vivid dreams and sleeping like a rock.”

  • “I found it I take too many puffs, I wake in the middle of night with my heart pounding.”

Read summaries and method notes

Read 1. No explicit age-qualified male report was identifiable. The clearest user described a large same-night increase in tracked deep and REM sleep, later settling on 350 mcg and reporting that the effect weakened after roughly three consecutive days. Another user said the benefit persisted during intermittent use over eight weeks but disappeared after stopping, suggesting a symptomatic rather than lasting effect in that individual. No qualifying adverse effect was clearly documented in these two reports. The data are exceptionally sparse despite many DSIP question threads, so the apparent positive balance should not be treated as representative.

Read 2. No man aged 45–60. Eleven users from 16 threads: 8 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative, 1 unclear — deeper slow-wave and REM sleep (one +40 min each on night one), waking restored, insomnia relief within 3 days with Epitalon. Side effects: vivid dreams, paradoxical insomnia (dosing 1 h before bed), night-time pounding heart with too many nasal puffs. Users say dose 2–3 hours before bed.

Note 1. Many DSIP threads were questions rather than first-person reports. One ResearchCompounds seed URL returned 404 and was skipped.

Note 2. Timing matters: dosing 1 h before bed gave paradoxical insomnia, 2-3 h before bed gave deep/REM gains. One counted negative was a third-person 'my RS' report, which the rules exclude (counted by Gemini).

Each read counted people independently. Overlap between the two reads is estimated from shared threads and removed; counts are approximate. How we count.

Summary

Nonapeptide: Trp-Ala-Gly-Gly-Asp-Ala-Ser-Gly-Glu. MW: ~849 Da. Discovered 1977 in rabbit brain during induced sleep.

Proposed mechanism

DSIP has been studied for sleep/stress effects through proposed pathways; reliable improvement of human sleep architecture and a clear distinction from sedatives are not established.:

  1. Proposed slow-wave sleep effect — reliable slow-wave enhancement and REM preservation are not established in humans; one placebo-controlled insomnia trial found no increase in slow-wave sleep. Trial
  2. Modulates HPA axis — reduces ACTH and cortisol release, particularly in stress conditions. Acts as a stress-dampening peptide.
  3. Possible opioid-system involvement — convincing direct opioid-receptor binding was not established. Analgesic effects, abuse potential and absence of addiction cannot be asserted from the retrieved evidence. FDA assessment
  4. Influences LH release — may interact with GnRH signaling.
  5. Antioxidant properties — scavenges free radicals, reduces lipid peroxidation in animal models.
  6. Thermoregulatory — lowers body temperature slightly, which aligns with sleep onset physiology.

Clinical limitation: The name and proposed mechanisms do not establish deeper, more restorative sleep. In a small anesthesia experiment, DSIP increased heart rate and reduced delta activity/apparent anesthetic depth; this is not evidence of routine sleep benefit. Anesthesia study

Safety

  • Withdrawal study reported transient headache, nausea, sweating and vertigo, with serious hypotension in two participants
  • Possible immunogenicity and peptide-related impurities; no adequate subcutaneous safety data
  • The Russian intranasal product label lists allergy, nasal irritation, hypersensitivity, pregnancy, breastfeeding and age under 18 as concerns or contraindications
  • In an anesthesia experiment DSIP increased heart rate and changed anesthetic depth

From labels, regulators and trials. No signal in small studies ≠ safe.

Evidence C sleep

Changed B to C. The Russian registration the seat relied on is for a DSIP-plus-glycine nasal product for alcohol- and stress-related conditions, not for sleep, so it is not an approval for the marketed use; and a bare registration without an adequately reported trial does not lift a grade (same rule as thymalin, Semax, Selank). For sleep the evidence is three tiny insomnia studies (16, 6 and 14 people): two found no clinically useful benefit and one reported improvement. That is small and mixed (C), close to F. The FDA advisory committee also voted against it in July 2026.

Human trials · 5

  1. PMID 12997941992Randomized double-blind matched-pairs placebo-controlled trial 16 people

    Adults with chronic insomnia

    Some objective sleep measures changed weakly, but subjective sleep quality did not improve and authors judged a major short-term therapeutic benefit unlikely. Source

  2. PMID 35834931987Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover 6 people

    Adults with severe chronic insomnia

    No significant benefit for principal waking measures versus placebo; slow-wave sleep did not increase and the authors considered the effect of little clinical significance. Source

  3. PMID 36225821987Placebo-controlled double-blind serial treatment study; comparator limitations 14 people

    Middle-aged adults with severe chronic insomnia

    The authors reported improved night sleep and daytime function; the small design and control limitations weaken interpretation. Source

  4. PMID 191420862009Randomized controlled dose-exploration study 24 people

    Women undergoing isoflurane anesthesia

    DSIP increased heart rate and reduced delta activity and apparent anesthetic depth, contrary to the tested hypnotic hypothesis. Source

  5. PMID 65489691984Uncontrolled clinical study 107 people

    Patients undergoing alcohol or opioid withdrawal

    Reported symptom improvement, but no randomized comparator; adverse effects included hypotension. Source

Bar length = trial size on a log scale.

Dose ranges

Reported ranges from labels and studies, with context. Not a recommendation.

  • clinical trial
    25 nmol/kg intravenously on three afternoons in the 1992 insomnia trial Source
  • clinical trial
    25–100 nmol/kg intravenously in a 2009 anesthesia experiment Source
  • approved label
    Russian intranasal DSIP-plus-glycine formulation: 0.3–0.9 mg DSIP per day for 5–10 days for the label's specified alcohol-related or stress-related indications Source on a non-primary host — not linked

Editorial ratings EDITORIAL

Editors’ judgement, 0–5. Opinion, not data; separate from grade and user score.

Not rated yet.

Sources

  1. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1299794/
  2. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3583493/
  3. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3622582/
  4. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19142086/
  5. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6548969/
  6. wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/2025-09/2026list_en_final_clean_september_2025.pdf?embed=
  7. fda.gov/media/193344/download
  8. fda.gov/media/193774/download
  9. fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/july-23-24-2026-meeting-pharmacy-c
  10. hhs.gov/sites/default/files/hhs-503a-peptide-enforcement-discretion-policy-appendix-b.pdf
  11. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6112579/

Reddit threads read · 12

10 further sources on commercial or non-primary hosts not listed.

Research checked 2026-11-13.