Sleep & Supplements: Maximizing your Nutrients for a Good Night's Sleep

Sleep, the “other” S word.  How much do you (or your kids) get? How much is enough?  Do you/they ever have trouble falling asleep? What about staying asleep? Is there anything that can help improve the quality of your sleep?

So many sleep questions, and the answers may feel elusive, especially to parents of young children.  Never before have you thought about sleep SO.MUCH. right? If you’re like us, you’ve even lost sleep googling the answers to all kinds of sleep situations.

But what if one of the secrets to sleep was sitting right in front of you in your selection of supplements?  Let’s look at how the nutrients found in Vitaminis can help your whole family sleep more soundly:

Vitamin C: Low levels of Vitamin C have been linked with sleep issues, especially night waking. It can also improve the symptoms of sleep apnea, improving sleep quality and reducing daytime sleepiness.  

Magnesium:  Studies, including those on insomnia, show that dietary magnesium can improve the function of the parasympathetic nervous system (allowing the body to relax) as well as support levels of GABA, the neurotransmitter that promotes calming.  Stress can deplete magnesium levels, thus requiring supplementation.  Further, magnesium may also alleviate night time leg cramps for those who are affected by that condition.

Zinc:  Important for the regulation of sleep duration, study participants showed correlation between high blood levels of zinc and optimum sleep hours per night (7 to 9 for adults). While it doesn’t trigger sleep per se (melatonin is more frequently associated with this trait), Zinc is thought to shorten the amount of time it takes to fall asleep as well as improve overall sleep quality. 

Wishing you mighty sweet dreams from Vitaminis!