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We all have known the frustration of being unable to fall asleep at some stage or another - but there are some natural vitamins and minerals that can help you fall asleep and remedy the insomnia.
| This article was not written by one of our writers, but was contributed by Sleep Aid Advice. |
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I completely understand you. You have been looking for ways to learn more about your insomnia and maybe through that to get rid of it once and for all. Well while the answer to that inquiry is too extensive for one article, here is one of the more forgotten facets of insomnia - vitamins and minerals can really influence your sleep patterns!! If you’re lacking some of the vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes then sleep will be much more difficult, not to mention healthy sleep which will be almost impossible. But instead of speaking about these essential supplements as a group, let’s break them down into some of the more critical and speak about them one at a time.
The first thing that is critical to your general health and your sleep included is calcium. Now while calcium might act differently when taken with food and when not, the fact is when it’s taken with (as it should be on a normal basis) it has a somewhat sedative effect on your body. The fact is people that don’t take the recommended daily supplement of calcium (usually 600mg per day) report being more restless and wakeful. This might not be a bad idea in general, but if you’re suffering from sleep problems then you need all the relaxing help you can get.
Another forgotten mineral that you need is magnesium (the standard dosage for this is 250g a day). With magnesium its not so much that it helps sleep but that if you don’t have enough in your system you will be more nervous and nervousness of course influences your ability to sleep. In fact, if you don’t have enough magnesium in your body your sleep won’t be as deep and you will wake more during the night then a person with a normal amount in their bodies. Now just so you know, some of the rich in magnesium foods out there are cashews, kelp and almonds. The list is of course much longer but this can give you a start in your search for a better nights sleep.
The next thing that you would need is copper. There is research out there that shows that low copper in your diet causes a prolonged falling asleep time among pre-menstruating women. Which really means that the more copper, the quicker you fall asleep and as such it goes into the good pile. It took only 2mg a day for the women in the study and they not only fell asleep faster but also woke up more refreshed. Now while you get about 1mg a day of copper through your regular diet, this minor deficiency might still cause disturbances in your sleep, even if not a complete bone fide sleep disorder. So if you’re looking for great sources of copper eat some fresh oysters and lobsters (if you adhere through your religious doctrine to a specific diet search online for a different source for this essential piece of your nutrition).
I will now move to vitamin B6 (also known as pyridoxine), vitamin B12 (a.k.a cobalamin), and vitamin B5 and folic acid. Take notes, because this is important. With the B6 you should take 50-100mg a day if you want to prevent insomnia. The reason for this is that it is essential in order for your body to make serotonin, which triggers sleep through melatonin (another hormone your body needs for sleep). If you’re looking for foods to help you with the B6 you can eat yeast (a table spoon or two in some juice should be enough).
Vitamin B12 is critical even if you’re not talking about insomnia (it’s known to slow down the effects of Alzheimer’s). Without this vitamin you can suffer from confusion, loss of memory and an all around tired feeling. You should take about 25mg a day and you can take it with B5. if your looking for the B12 vitamin in your everyday foods you can find it in sunflower seeds, bananas, tuna, whole grain foods, walnuts and more.
Now if I already brought up the B5 vitamin in you should know that it’s excellent as far as relieving stress or anxiety (don’t ask me how, it just works - take my word for it). The reason this is good is because those are often causes of sleep disorders. If you don’t have enough vitamin B5 in your system (100mg a day) then you can feel general fatigue, and that would be too bad.
The last one I will talk about today is folic acid, which when deficient can also cause insomnia. The daily dose for this is 400mcg and you should really try to keep it at that standard - it’s worth it. You can find this acid in orange juice or leafy green vegetables. You can also find it in certain breakfast cereals and beans. So it’s really easy to find around and at your local grocery store. But the fact is, your body finds it easier to use the store bought acid then the natural ones, so get some, and be healthy.
The fact is for most of the listed above you won’t need a supplement if you eat a relatively healthy diet. You can try and take the supplements and see if you experience a substantial difference as far as your sleep goes then continue, otherwise stop it. As far as anything goes, a little is great but too much of anything is never good (and by the way if the vitamins don’t work then perfect your diet and start exercising).
Don’t ever do everything at once, you don’t want to over excite your system (this is true for any sleep assistance technique you want to do) and no matter whether this works or not, do anything you can to avoid the heavy sleep drugs. Just try and see and whenever you want to see if something helps you sleep do so, but whatever you end up picking, stick to it.
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