The Science of Sleep

Sleep Supplements 101 with Dr. Alice Hirschel, Chief Science Officer, Natrol

If you don't have healthy sleep, it doesn't really matter what your diet is, what your exercise regimen is. Most of your health will be compromised without healthy, regular sleep.

What to Know About Melatonin

Melatonin has been studied in humans for over 30 years. It is one of our primary sleep hormones and has been studied at a variety of doses in both healthy men, women, and children. It has also been studied in adults and children that have chronic or diagnosed health issues. The outcomes have been falling asleep faster, staying asleep longer, and has recently been discovered to be quite a powerful antioxidant as well. So, melatonin is a wonderful supplement taken for occasional sleeplessness. Most feel it that night.

What is Magnesium

Magnesium is an essential mineral. We have to consume it from our diets and it is involved in almost everything in our bodies. Over 50% of the adult population tends to be deficient in magnesium which helps muscles relax which is in stage one of sleep. It is involved with cellular energy production, muscle function,brain and nerve function, DNA synthesis and over 300 enzyme reactions uh within the human body. and glycine alone has been studied. The hypothesis is taking a magnesium glycine seems to work together both with helping the muscles relax in stage one and then helping fall asleep in stage two. It is excellent to supplement with a type of magnesium that suits your body. And magnesium comes in a variety of forms. Some that are more bioavailable than others like magnesium glycinate, magnesium citrate tend to be gentler on the stomach as well as readily absorbed into the body. Magnesium is a supplement that is meant to be taken daily. It may be helpful for you to take it two hours before sleep. It may help you 30 minutes before sleep. It's something that each individual will have to play around with.

Ingredients for Sleep Support

There are so many ingredients that support sleep health like Valarian, GABA, passion flower, all of which affect different mechanisms of action within the sleep cycle. One of the most popular ones is melatonin. Melatonin specifically in human clinical studies has been shown to help target non-REM stage two where the consumer would fall asleep into stage three as well as REM sleep that will then help them stay asleep longer. Melatonin often works on the first dose and when we say works, it means that the consumer feels the benefits either helping them fall asleep faster, sometimes staying asleep longer as well. Whereas magnesium glycinate may take days to weeks in order for the consumer to feel the benefits.

Understanding the Sleep Cycle

All sleep stages are important because our bodies go through that five to six times a night. But non-REM sleep stage three is actually when the body starts to repair itself. And that includes muscles, consolidation of memory, kind of cleaning out most of our body organs. And that leads into REM sleep, which is where the dreaming occurs, goes back to the beginning to start the whole process over again for our bodies to have additional time to repair and regenerate, rejuvenate in order to wake up after a good night's sleep.