How blessed is sleep. Every night we naturally receive peace, renewal, rest, cleansing, sometimes even a little dream house entertainment. It doesn’t cost anything. We don’t have to earn it. We just close our eyes and it simply happens. Usually.
But for millions of people in this country, sleep can be elusive. Everyone experiences a sleep-deprived night from time to time, whether from stress or over-excitement. Even those mu shu pancakes that you ate at 8:30 p.m. can do a tummy dance that keeps you tossing and turning.
Something like 1 in 10 Americans, however, lives with chronic insomnia, according to statistics from the Mayo Clinic. And about 1 in 4 of us experiences chronic insomnia from time to time in our lives.
While sleep is, indeed, a pleasure, it’s also a biological necessity. You know, of course, that if you don’t get a good night’s sleep, you feel fatigued and out-of-sorts the next day. So does your immune system. Your immune system functions at its peak only if and when you give it adequate sleep. And studies show that we’re more prone to accidents when we don’t get enough sleep.
Insomnia is defined as the inability to get to sleep, to stay asleep for a sufficient amount of time, or to get sufficient restorative effects from sleep.
If you have chronic insomnia, you’ve hopefully already seen your doctor for the problem; he or she can recommend a variety of lifestyle changes, medications, and herbal remedies to bring on the ZZZs.
Many people have success with such alternative remedies as the hormone melatonin or the herb valerian, but, when it comes to banishing insomnia, the star performer, bar none, is a nutrient, says Shari Lieberman, PhD, nutrition scientist and author of The Real Vitamin and Mineral Book: The Definitive Guide to Designing Your Personal Supplement Program.
A nutrition consultant in private practice in Florida, Dr. Lieberman has, through the decades, recommended a number of different alternative remedies to her patients with insomnia. “Out of everything I’ve ever used or tried,” she says, “I’ve had absolutely the best results with L-theanine.” (See below.) There are also a couple of other nutrients that may prove helpful.
An amino acid found in green tea, L-theanine helps you relax and deal with stress, says Dr. Lieberman. It calms “mind chatter,” she says, is safe to take over a long period of time, even years, and does not leave you feeling drowsy the next day.
Dr. Lieberman tells the story of one patient whom she had been seeing for several other health issues over a 10-year period. He had mentioned chronic insomnia, although that wasn’t what they were working on, and they had already tried several other remedies for insomnia with no effect. Finally, when she suggested that he try L-theanine, it brought instant relief.
“He was absolutely thrilled,” says Dr. Lieberman. “He takes it every night and it’s still working after 2 years. He’s probably the worst case of insomnia I’ve seen.”
After similar results with other patients, Dr. Lieberman now recommends L-theanine as her first choice for insomnia.
There are good biochemical reasons for L-theanine to be so effective, says Dr. Lieberman. L-theanine is involved in the production of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), a neurotransmitter that has a calming effect, she explains. GABA also helps neutralize glutamate, a brain chemical that causes excitement. Fortunately, you don’t have to understand the brain chemistry to get the benefits. Just be assured that L-theanine is a safe nutrient found in foods that has a calming, soothing effect on your brain.
How much should you take? Start with a small dose, just 30 to 40 milligrams about half an hour before bedtime, advises Dr. Lieberman. If that doesn’t quite do the trick, she says, gradually increase the dose on subsequent nights, up to 300 milligrams.
Many experts tout the mineral magnesium for enhancing sleep. Magnesium, which helps relax muscles, may be effective if you’re deficient, says Dr. Lieberman, and is worth a try. You can take 500 to 1,000 milligrams one-half hour before bedtime, she says. Start with the lower dose.
Be aware, however, that magnesium can cause diarrhea. If you experience this, back off on the dose.
Calcium and magnesium work in tandem with each other. Most nutrition experts recommend that if you take a magnesium supplement, you should also take twice as much calcium.
Magnesium may be of special interest if you experience sleep disturbances due to periodic limb movements during sleep (PLMS) or restless leg syndrome (RLS). In1998, a small German study found that for many people with these problems, taking a magnesium supplement at bedtime improves sleep quality.
Nutritionists have long known that the amino acid tryptophan can be helpful for getting to sleep. Back in 1986, researchers published a review in the medical journal Psychopharmacology of numerous studies that had been done on tryptophan as a therapy for insomnia. The pooled findings indicated that tryptophan is particularly helpful for inducing sleep in younger “situational insomniacs.” That is, it’s most helpful for younger people who are experiencing insomnia because of some stressful situation in their lives that is interfering with sleep. For these people, the researchers noted, the effective dose is somewhere between 1 and 15 grams.
For older adults with chronic insomnia, according to the researchers, repeated doses over a period of days may be necessary, and sometimes the benefits show up days after the tryptophan has been discontinued. For this reason, researchers noted, using tryptophan at on-again, off-again intervals—so-called interval therapy—may be more effective.
The researchers also pointed out a couple of big pluses for using tryptophan as a therapy for insomnia—the lack of side effects and the fact that the body does not develop tolerance, which would make the therapy ineffective.
The body uses tryptophan to make the soothing neurotransmitter serotonin. Many people find that taking a supplement of either L-tryptophan or 5-HTP helps them get to sleep, says Dr. Lieberman. (The body makes 5-HTP from tryptophan as an intermediate step on the way to manufacturing serotonin.) You can take 1 to 2 grams of tryptophan or 30 to 300 milligrams of 5-HTP about half an hour before going to bed, she says. In either case, she advises starting with the smaller dose. If you find you need a little more, add to the dose on subsequent nights until you find a dose that works for you.
Including foods rich in tryptophan in a late-night snack might also be helpful. These include turkey and milk.
Note: These nutrients are not meant to be taken together. To find something that might be effective for you, give each one a trial run. Start with the smaller dose and take it one-half hour before bedtime.
5-HTP |
30 to 300 milligrams |
L-theanine |
30 to 300 milligrams |
L-tryptophan |
1 to 2 grams |
Magnesium* |
500 to 1,000 milligrams |
*Magnesium supplements can cause diarrhea. If you experience this, back off on the dose. If you take a magnesium supplement, also take a calcium supplement. Whatever amount of magnesium you take, take twice as much calcium.