Using Supplements To Help You Sleep
Adequate sleep is vital for good health and overall wellbeing – and without deep and restful sleep every night, the body and mind will not function at their best.
While the body can indeed rest to an extent while still awake, the only way the brain can rest properly is during deep sleep. During sleep, the brain remains active, though the level of brain activity varies with different sleep stages, which occur in 90-minute cycles. It is during the deepest stage of sleep that several important physiological functions occur, including:
- Physical recovery and repair
- Growth
- Brain and memory development
- Metabolic processes (including regulation of breathing, heart rate, and body temperature)
- Hormone production
- Memory and mood stabilisation
Getting inadequate sleep can negatively impact one’s mood, reaction times, performance, focus, and ultimately result in a higher risk of memory and concentration issues, anxiety, fatigue, irritability, headaches and reduced immune function.
Sleeping enough on a nightly basis is one of the most important, effective things you can do for your health – yet more than 60% of Australians report experiencing at least one sleep problem, including poor sleep quality, insufficient sleep, insomnia, difficulty falling asleep, and more.
Taking the best vitamins for sleep can be an effective way to improve your sleep quality for better health.
What are the best vitamins for sleep?
There are several vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements that may help you sleep better. Some of these have been used for thousands of years in Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine and in western herbal medicine.
They include (but are not limited to):
- Magnesium – supports brain function, helps regulate sleep and relaxes the body
- Calcium – helps metabolise the amino acid tryptophan, which eases the body into sleep and helps prevent restlessness and wakefulness
- B Vitamins – support brain function, sleep, and mood
- Passionflower – may help promote better, deeper sleep
- Californian Poppy – may help promote relaxation and sleep and reduce discomfort
- Lavender – is soothing and may improve sleep quality
- Curcumin – may enhance sleep quality
- Zizyphus – may help calm the nerves and reduce restlessness
The Benefits of Mood Supplements
Using supplements to support your mood can offer a range of benefits, including reducing the impact of depression, staving off seasonal affective disorder and improving brain function and mental clarity. There are a range of ways supplements can help support your mood, including reduction of inflammation and overall bodily stress which Curcumin is fantastic for, or by impacting how the brain processes signals which can affect mood, such as St John’s Wort.
Ethical Nutrients offers a wide selection of vitamin and mineral supplements to suit your unique needs. Choosing the best vitamins for sleep and mood may help you:
- Go to sleep more quickly
- Sleep deeper and longer
- Promote a calm, restful mind
- Relieve stress and nervous tension
- Support a balanced mood
- Aid nervous system function
- Encourage a healthy emotional state
- Alleviate physical discomfort
