Sleep Supplements – Part 1

SLEEP SUPPLEMENTS PART 1

I bet that you have experienced at least one of these following scenarios… 1) It’s time to go to bed, you lay your head down on the pillow, and nothing happens. And you’re just waiting for sleep, to please, please come and it doesn’t. 2) You wake up at 2am, maybe 3am, like clockwork, your mind is swirling with the most unimportant things like a to do list; what you want to do; what you should have said yesterday; etc. And it’s just so frustrating because, you know, getting a good night’s sleep is so important to how you’re going to function the next day. What your mood is going to be like and your overall health. For years, I was waking up at two or three o’clock, that was like my insomnia sweet spot. And I would just stay awake. And my mind would be chattering away with all sorts of things about what I should be doing the next day, what I should have said to so and so the day before. Usually it was around 5:30 in the morning that I finally started to doze back off. And of course, that was right before my alarm would go off. Great, right? 

I want to talk not just about sleep, or maybe our lack of sleep, but some sleep supplements that can actually help you get a better night’s sleep. Today I want to focus on the family of the B vitamins. Now the first thing I always like to say is when it comes to vitamins and minerals is to try and get them from our diet. But you know what? That’s not always possible. Commercial farming has depleted our soils of the nutrients and the minerals. So, even if we’re eating healthy, we still may not getting all the nutrients that we need. The other thing is there are certain situations that are nutrient zappers. When it comes to the vitamin B family, as I’ll call them, things like stress, smoking, alcohol, environmental toxins that can actually zap the vitamin B in your body. 

Now, one thing I also want to highly, highly recommend is that if you are going to start taking supplements, talk to your doctor first. If you’re taking any prescription meds, you’re going to want to make sure that those supplements aren’t interfering with the efficacy of your prescription meds. But you know what, you also want to ask your doctor, if any of your prescription meds are zapping your body of any essential nutrients.  It’s a two way street with with supplements and prescription meds. Always make sure that one isn’t interfering with the other and always pose both those questions to your doctor. 

The relationship that the family of vitamin Bs have with sleep is that they help the body regulate tryptophan. What is tryptophan? It’s an essential amino acid. And it’s the precursor to serotonin. Serotonin is commonly known as the happiness hormone, but it also aids in helping us sleep.

VITAMIN B3

• Vitamin B3 helps increase the effectiveness of tryptophan
• Vitamin B3 helps lengthen your REM sleep. REM sleep is the stage of sleep when you dream. FUN FACT… When you are in REM sleep, you are actually temporarily paralyzed. Isn’t that just so fascinating? 
• Vitamin B3 helps decrease the number of times that you wake up in the middle of the night. 
• Vitamin B3 has also been used to treat depression.
• Vitamin B3 helps balance your blood sugar level. 
• Vitamin B3 helps regulate your hunger. (And don’t forget, sleep helps regulate hunger so that the less sleep you get, the hungrier you are.)

VITAMIN B6

• Vitamin B6 is required for the production of serotonin and melatonin. Melatonin helps regulate your sleep cycle. Additionally serotonin and melatonin are calming hormones. 
• Vitamin B6 is great for improving mood, appetite and sleep patterns.

VITAMIN B12

• Vitamin B12 is going to help with normalizing sleep patterns and folic acid. It’s been shown that a deficiency and folic acid can actually cause insomnia. So if you are really struggling with insomnia, I would highly recommend asking your doctor to test you on your folic acid levels.

And finally, B vitamins can be a little bit stimulating. So don’t take them too close to bedtime. Go for morning or earlier in the day. Good food sources for vitamin Bs are whole grains, nuts, broccoli, and potatoes. So, have a great night’s sleep! Peace & Love!