melatonin

Ten Foods That Help You Sleep

Having trouble falling or staying asleep? The answer could lie in your kitchen. Foods that help you sleep contain sleep-promoting nutrients that can induce a natural, restful nights’ sleep.

If a survey were to be done asking individuals what they would like to do more of in a typical day, sleep would likely be one of the top answers. For various reasons, many of us lie awake in bed and have the most difficult time falling and staying asleep.

Experts have suggested that when this occurs, we should turn to food as a solution. The nutrients and phytochemicals in certain foods can play the same role in our body as sleeping medications and supplements when the right foods are chosen.

Exploring Foods That Help You Sleep

Foods that help you sleep at night have the ability to stimulate the production and release of certain sleep-promoting brain chemicals. Also, if an underlying condition such as muscle cramps interrupts your sleep, these foods may provide relief of those symptoms as well. To get a better night’s sleep, consider experimenting with these great nighttime snacks.

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are a great source of tryptophan, an essential amino acid. Our bodies convert tryptophan to melatonin during a four-step reaction involving serotonin, a mood-enhancing neurotransmitter. Melatonin is a natural hormone released by the pineal gland that directly promotes sleep. It is commonly used as a dietary supplement and sleep aid.

Almonds

Almonds or almond butter can make a great snack before bedtime. They are a rich source of iron, calcium, zinc, potassium, magnesium and B vitamins. These nutrients offer many benefits to the body as they relax muscles, help regulate brain activity, and increase levels of melatonin. Almonds are also a source of 14 amino acids, one of which is tryptophan.

Cherries

Tart cherries are one of the only natural food sources that can supply our bodies with melatonin, the natural sleep-promoting hormone. When cherries are out of season, you can supplement with a glass of cherry juice or some dried cherries. Researchers who have linked cherries with melatonin suggest eating them one hour before bedtime. Other natural sources of melatonin include grapes and walnuts.

Bananas

Bananas are among the foods that help you sleep. They are a good source of potassium and magnesium, both of which are natural muscle relaxants. They also contain tryptophan, which is converted in the brain to the sleep hormone melatonin.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is a complex carbohydrate that doesn’t cause the sugar spikes seen with other carbohydrates. It is a filling food that is easily digestible, allowing your body to rest easy at night. It is also a great source of calcium, potassium and magnesium, nutrients that promote relaxation of the body.

Cheese & Crackers

The carbohydrates in crackers help you fall asleep faster. After consuming carbohydrates, the body is triggered to produce insulin. Along with insulin, the sleep-promoting brain chemicals serotonin and tryptophan are released. The protein in the cheese is also an excellent source of tryptophan.

Toast with Peanut Butter

Toast provides the same carbohydrate benefit of crackers to help you sleep, plus peanut butter is rich in tryptophan. With this combination, you will get the benefit of tryptophan and the benefit of the carbohydrates, which helps tryptophan reach the brain easier.

Cereal & Milk

This is a great bedtime snack combination. Milk is a source of sleep-promoting tryptophan. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the carbohydrates in the cereal make tryptophan more available to the brain. Also, as previously mentioned, after eating carbohydrates the sleep-promoting brain chemicals serotonin and tryptophan are triggered along with insulin.

Pineapple

Researchers have found that certain foods can boost our natural levels of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin. After eating pineapples, the levels of a melatonin marker were increased by 266 percent. Bananas also contributed to a rise of 180 percent and those who ate oranges had a rise of 47 percent.

Popcorn

The popcorn works in a manner similar to cheese and crackers. If sprinkled with grated parmesan cheese, this snack can give your body a boost of tryptophan and the carbohydrates it needs to help the brain absorb it more readily.

Recent Discoveries Reveal New Connections Between Melatonin and Cancer

Feb 05 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Scientists have long been aware of the link between melatonin and a healthy sleep-wake cycle. New evidence reveals previously unknown connections between melatonin and cancer.

Many people use melatonin as a supplement to get better quality sleep and to treat circadian disorders such as jet lag. Several new studies suggest that melatonin also may have an impact in relation to cancer treatment. Not only does it appear to improve response to chemotherapy, but the presence of melatonin may also promote healthy cell growth.

A Possible Link Between Melatonin and Cancer

A study performed in Iceland looked at levels of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin in the urine of men with and without prostate cancer. 6-sulfatoxymelatonin is a metabolite of melatonin, so its presence in urine is a rough indicator of blood melatonin levels. Men with low levels of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin were more likely to report sleep issues such as problems falling or staying asleep. They also were more likely to develop cancer of the prostate gland. In fact, those with higher-than-normal levels of this melatonin metabolite were 75 percent less likely to be diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer.

New Hope for Cancer Treatment?

This study is not the only one pointing to a relationship between low melatonin levels and potential cancer risk. Several other studies have linked higher melatonin levels with lower cancer risk. In addition, melatonin has been found to dramatically improve the effects of chemotherapy.

How can a hormone associated with sleep have such a huge effect when it comes to cancer? Melatonin and cancer appear to be linked, but how? Melatonin is one of the strongest antioxidants produced by the human body. Not only can it promote healthy cell growth, but studies show that patients who take melatonin with their chemotherapy have a higher rate of tumor response and a higher rate of one year survival, even in tumors previously deemed untreatable.

How Melatonin Helps

Scientists have identified a few mechanisms behind melatonin’s effects. First, it appears to reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy as well as its symptoms, which allows patients to complete their treatments at a higher rate. Melatonin’s effects on sleep allow patients to get higher-quality rest, which leaves them physically stronger and healthier. There is also evidence that melatonin also may more directly promote healthy cell growth, but the mechanism of this effect is not currently known. Some researchers believe that melatonin may lower levels of linoleic acid, which increases the growth of some cancers.

Melatonin and Healthy Cell Growth

Doctors and scientists remain unsure about the effects of melatonin in relation to cancer prevention. It is important to talk to your health care provider whenever you add a new supplement or medication to your regimen. However, melatonin has very low toxicity and almost no side effects when taken in a moderate dose, so many health care providers are supportive of its use as a supplement.

While more research will be needed to determine the exact nature of the link between melatonin and cancer, information gathered from studies done to date is very promising. Melatonin appears to be a beneficial adjunct in the treatment of a variety of cancers, helping patients sleep better and feel healthier during therapies. These new discoveries may change the way doctors approach the treatment of cancer while improving survival and quality of life for people who struggle with disease.

Melatonin: The Master Circadian Rhythm Regulator

Feb 03 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Melatonin plays an important role in regulating the circadian rhythm. In addition, this hormone is showing promise as a treatment for a variety of health problems.

Many people have heard of melatonin. It has become a popular supplement in recent years because of its important role in regulating the circadian rhythm. When people suffer from a melatonin deficiency, they may also suffer from insomnia and even more serious disorders such as cancer.

What Is Melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone made by the pineal gland of the brain. All mammals make melatonin and use it in similar ways. When our retinas sense low levels of light, they send messages to the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, another brain structure. The hypothalamus then tells the pineal gland to make melatonin, which then acts on almost every cell in your body.

Melatonin is best known for governing our sleep-wake cycles, but it has a variety of other roles. Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant, prevent aging in our cells. It may also play other roles in aging. In addition, melatonin may be important in the regulation of female hormones and a variety of other biochemicals.

The Master Clock of Your Sleep-Wake Cycle

While melatonin plays a variety of roles, it is most important in regulating the circadian rhythm, including sleep-wake cycles. Melatonin is secreted when our brains sense that it is night, and then released continuously as we sleep. Peak levels occur at around 3 or 4 a.m. After this, levels falls sharply and the brain begins to make other hormones that are associated with waking.

Melatonin helps us to fall asleep and stay asleep long enough to get adequate rest. In addition, the presence of melatonin lets your body know that you are asleep so it can perform important repair processes. Because melatonin is an antioxidant, it even participates in important cell repair. These repair processes not only make us feel more rested, but also play an important role in slowing aging and even protecting against cancer.

Melatonin and Illness

Besides regulating the circadian rhythm, melatonin has been found to be helpful in a variety of illnesses. First, it has been used successfully to treat disorders of the circadian rhythm such as jet lag, insomnia and disorders associated with shift work. It has also been found to assist healthy sleeping behavior in mental health and developmental disorders where insomnia is a major feature, such as autism and schizophrenia. It has even shown promise in the treatment of some cancers.

Resetting Your Circadian Rhythm

Because melatonin is the master clock of the circadian rhythm, it is extremely effective in treating problems related to the sleep-wake cycle. People who suffer jet lag after traveling across time zones can use melatonin to naturally fall asleep at an earlier time without the side effects of other sleep medication. Shift workers and people who work odd hours can use melatonin to tell their body that it is time to sleep in the absence of the presence of bright light or other wakefulness cues.

Understanding the human circadian rhythm and the role of melatonin in regulating the circadian rhythm is allowing doctors and scientists to devise new and innovative treatments. New effects of melatonin are being studied, so it is likely that this hormone will become a more important medical treatment in the future.

Need Sleep? Drink “Night Milk”

Jan 20 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Can’t seem to fall asleep? New research suggests that a glass of “night milk” may be as effective as common sedatives in promoting sleep.

Next time you have trouble falling or staying asleep, reach for a glass of night milk instead of into your medicine cabinet. To clarify, this beverage isn’t called night milk because you drink it before bedtime; it’s actually cow’s milk that is harvested from the cow in the evening hours. If you’re like the majority of people learning about this new concept, you’re probably wondering why the time the cow is milked makes a difference.

Thanks to a study performed by a Korean research team we have the answers.

The Science Behind Night Milk

Recently, a new animal study that was published in the Journal of Medicinal Food determined that before bed, a mother’s milk takes on an enhanced chemical structure with elevated levels of tryptophan and melatonin.

Authors of the study from Sahmyook University in Seoul, South Korea concluded from this finding that night milk may be a promising natural remedy for anxiety and sleep disturbances.

Can Night Milk Improve Sleep and Reduce Anxiety?

To test this theory, milk from cows was collected at various times during the day and night. The milk was then put into powder form and fed to groups of mice.

Evaluation of the milk’s effect on both groups revealed that the mice fed night milk were notably less active than the mice that received milk from cows who were milked during the day.

Surprisingly, the mice who were less active were more apt to explore open spaces. Researchers interpreted their attempt to explore as being reflective of reduced anxiety, with effects comparable to the effects of diazepam, a common sedative used to treat anxiety.

The night milk was found to contain nearly 10 times more melatonin and 24 percent more tryptophan than daytime milk.

However, the effects have yet to be tested on people, though many people have been drinking milk or taking melatonin to successfully fall asleep for years.

New Theory, or Just First of Its Kind Research?

While this is new research, it is not a new concept. A German company patented “nocturnal milk” and produced a powder from milk that had been collected from cows between the hours of 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.

The effectiveness of nocturnal milk can be vouched for by happy consumers like Maike Schnittger, who was able to get through a troublesome period of anxiety by taking the powder that helped her fall asleep within half an hour. She also stated that she fell into a deep sleep and felt really awake the next morning.

Carl Bazil, director of the Epilepsy and Sleep Division of the neurology department at Columbia University, was a little skeptical about the night milk concept. However, he stated that the theory behind it is correct, as melatonin and tryptophan have proven sedative properties and milk is also known to help people fall asleep.

The Effects of Melatonin and Tryptophan on Sleep

Wondering just how the tryptophan- and melatonin-rich milk might work? Studies dating all the way back to the 1970s have suggested that taking between one and 15 grams of tryptophan at bedtime can help people fall asleep. Even smaller doses, as little as 250 milligrams, were found to provide people with increased sleep quality by lengthening the amount of time they spent in the deepest stage of sleep.

Normal sleep is produced by two main biomolecules: the hormone melatonin and the neurotransmitter serotonin. Both of these are made naturally in the body from tryptophan, making tryptophan a valuable supplement for those seeking a better quality of sleep.

Scientists reviewed 15 studies of sleep in healthy adults and noted that the administration of melatonin significantly reduced the amount of time needed to fall asleep, boosted the percentage of time that people were actually asleep while in bed and increased their total sleep duration. This is due to the active role melatonin has in the sleep-wake cycle.

So, does this research warrant replacing conventional sleep aids with a glass of night milk? For some, maybe, if they have access to night milk. Although this is excellent research and a great first step in providing a natural solution for two very common conditions, i.e. anxiety and sleep disturbances, we anticipate that a human study is most likely imminent.