Nootropic for Sleep Quality Improvement -
Magnesium has been known to reduce classic signs and symptoms of insomnia , such as trouble falling asleep and shorter sleep durations per night. Magnesium bisglycinate, which relaxes muscles, and magnesium threonate, which calms the nervous system, are two types of magnesium that can help aid in sleep.
L-theanine can help reduce anxiety in order to prime your body for better sleep. Another favorite of Freed, apigenin can also help reduce anxiety , allowing the body to relax into sleep. Apigenin is also found in chamomile.
There are two clear ways to differentiate between low- and high-quality nootropic products, says Freed. Below are some recommended brands and products that source their products carefully and can help with sleep.
Try: The Dream Light , formulated with reishi, melatonin, and L-tryptophan. Try: The Thesis Starter Kit , with specific blends for energy, creativity, calm, and focus. Try: The Dream Powder , formulated with melatonin, L-theanine, and magnesium.
Try: The ZZZs supplement , formulated with 5-HTP, magnesium, and zinc. The biggest concern is the sourcing of ingredients, says Tomen. In general, though, nootropics are thought to be relatively safe.
For example, it could cause migraines or digestive issues or render the nootropic useless, he explains. Nootropics can help promote restful sleep and regulate your circadian rhythm—but you may need to test out different options to see which ones work best for you. Sourcing can also be a concern, so make sure to check the labels and consult with your doctor before trying.
Certain herbs can help you snooze too. Check out our roundup on the best herbs for sleep to find out which ones really work. Skip to content. What is a nootropic? What is the connection between nootropics and sleep?
Melatonin Yup, that tried-and-true supplement is a nootropic, says Tomen. In fact, it has been shown that Oleamide increases the levels of anandamide which is one of our bodies own cannabinoids, and also appears to be the most potent of the bunch.
It is interesting to note that Oleamide naturally builds up in our cerebrospinal fluid during sleep deprivation, and that large amounts of Oleamide in our cerebrospinal fluid may make falling asleep a lot more likely. It also appears that right before we fall asleep, Oleamide levels become elevated.
This tells us that Oleamide naturally plays a large role in our sleep cycle. So, supplementation of additional Oleamide should help enhance overall sleep quality. It has been shown that taking an Oleamide supplement before sleep can significantly reduce both sleep latency and total sleep time without affecting the amount of time spent in REM sleep.
It is also unclear what stages of slow wave sleep Oleamide specifically acts on, but it has been shown that Oleamide produces an overall increase in slow wave sleep. Since Oleamide benefits include an apparent decrease in the amount of time taken to fall asleep, Oleamide may be increasing the depth of stage 1 slow wave sleep.
This may also help explain the decreased likelihood of wakefulness and increased sleep time that is generally seen with administration of an Oleamide supplement.
Overall, Oleamide is a fantastic sleep supplement. Taking an Oleamide supplement may help optimize your overall sleep architecture while making it easier to both fall asleep and stay asleep. In our experience, taking an Oleamide supplement can make drifting off to sleep a lot easier.
After some extended supplementation, Oleamide appears to result in significantly more restorative sleep. Buy Oleamide Supplements. Sensoril is an extract of Ashwagandha and has very prominent relaxing effects that we have found can make getting to bed a whole lot easier.
In addition to its relaxing effects, Sensoril Ashwagandha also has a potent stress-regulating effect which can be highly beneficial when it comes to sleep as our sleep cycles are highly impacted by increased stress. Increased stress levels tend to quite reliably reduce the amount of slow wave sleep, reduce the amount of REM sleep, increase the amount of awakenings during the night and appears to decrease overall sleep efficiency.
Based on this, it appears that stress is highly detrimental on our overall sleep quality. This then increases stress response which then further degrades sleep quality. Based on this, it is very important to get stress under control if we want to maintain healthy sleep quality.
If you want to learn more about how Sensoril Ashwagandha benefits your stress levels, we would recommend reading our in depth blog on Ashwagandha.
It will help calm us down which will make it easier to drift off to sleep and will help keep us asleep too Sensoril Ashwagandha Effects on GABA-A Receptors. Sensoril not only enhances overall sleep quality via its stress management effects, it also has much more direct effects.
Ashwagandha has quite potent effects at GABA-A receptors which is a very important receptor that helps calm our brain activity. One of the main classes of compounds in Ashwagandha that are responsible for the bulk of Ashwagandha GABAergic effects are the glyco withanolides.
It just so happens that Sensoril is extremely high in glyco withanolides and thus it is a fantastic tool to use when it comes to modulating the activity of GABA-A receptors. GABA is an inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitter that helps balance brain activity.
This is great as too much activity in the brain can lead to nervousness and increased sleep latency. By using Sensoril to increase GABAergic activity, we can help calm ourselves down before sleep which is going to significantly regulate sleep latency.
It may also help enhance slow wave sleep and help decrease night time awakenings. Overall, Sensoril would be a fantastic night time supplement to take an hour before bed. It will help calm us down which will make it easier to drift off to sleep and will help keep us asleep too.
Furthermore, it will help offset the negative effects of stress on sleep. Since Sensoril Ashwagandha benefits include regulating stress levels, this will also allow you to wake up stress free!
This is important as one of our main stress hormones, cortisol, tends to be very high in the early mornings. To a certain degree, this is a good thing as cortisol helps get us going in the morning. However, if you are already quite stressed, mornings can be a tricky ordeal. Night time dosing of Sensoril should help dampen this early morning stress response allowing you to get on with your day feeling refreshed and relaxed!
Buy Sensoril Ashwagandha Supplements. If you read our recent blog on Magnesium , you will know that Magnesium deficiencies are very common.
Generally speaking, it is very important to get in an adequate amount of Magnesium to maintain optimum health. However, Magnesium also plays a big role in sleep and a high-qualtiy Magnesium supplement may help enhance sleep quality. Magnesium can act on GABAergic receptors and it may also help stabilize glutamate receptors.
GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in our brain whereas glutamate is the main excitatory neurotransmitter in our brain. This means that when glutamate activity is high, it may be quite hard to get to sleep and to stay asleep. Magnesium blocks one of the main glutamate receptors called the NMDA receptors.
By doing, Magnesium Glycinate increase sleep quality. Studies on Magnesium improving sleep are unfortunately scarce. However, there was one very good study that showed that magnesium was able to enhance overall slow wave sleep, and in particular, was able to boost brain waves that are seen in stage 2 and stage 3 sleep.
It appears that Magnesium may selectively enhance stage 2 and 3 slow wave sleep, which is great, as these are the most restorative stages of sleep.
Magnesium may also help normalize sleeping cortisol levels, similar but to a much lower degree than Sensoril Ashwagandha. Based on this, Magnesium may also be highly beneficial in cases of degraded sleep due to stress. Why Is Magnesium Glycinate The Best Magnesium Supplement For Sleep?
You may ask yourself at this point "why did Nootropics Depot choose Magnesium Glycinate instead of other Magnesium supplements they offer for sale? Glycine is a dietary amino acid, and like GABA, is mainly an inhibitory neurotransmitter.
It also happens to have its own receptor named the Glycine receptor. When Glycine activates its own receptor, it can also slow down brain activity and may even help enhance sleep by itself. Studies have shown that large doses of Glycine usually around 3 grams may significantly shorten sleep latency and may also decrease the amount of time it takes to get into the deeper stages of slow wave sleep.
The Effects of Glycine on Sleep. Subjective effects have shown that this large dose of Glycine leads to better cognitive function the following morning. This effect has been attributed to Glycine enhancing overall sleep quality.
The amount you are getting from a dose of a Magnesium Glycinate supplement is likely not able to produce these effects. However, there is the possibility that due to its Glycine content, Magnesium Glycinate will be the best Magnesium for sleep.
Anecdotally, Magnesium Glycinate feels much more relaxing and appears to enhance sleep more than other forms of Magnesium. In fact, while doing research for Magnesium, we found that a commonly searched-for phrase is "Magnesium glycinate sleep," which indicated to us that Magnesium Glycinate is already quite a well established form of Magnesium for sleep!
That being said, any Magnesium supplement we carry should help enhance sleep quality. Buy Magnesium Glycinate Supplements. Lemon Balm Extract is widely known for its calming effects. So, it is no surprise that it has made its way into this sleep supplement blog.
This is why Melatonin is not the always the best sleep supplement, as it does not have relaxing effects even though using Melatonin for sleep is very popular. Once most people fall asleep, they will usually stay asleep.
However, getting to sleep appears to be one of the more challenging aspects of sleep. In theory, the more relaxed we are the easier it will be to fall asleep, and this is attributed to relaxation-causing decreased sleep latency.
So, how does Lemon Balm Extract follow this thread? As discussed earlier, this will help calm us down before sleep and will decrease sleep latency while also increase slow wave sleep and reducing night time awakenings Lemon Balm Extract contains a plethora of compounds which all have a host of beneficial health effects.
The most prominent component of Lemon Balm Extract is a compound called Rosmarinic acid. Rosmarinic acid helps to block the breakdown of GABA by inhibiting one of the main enzymes that break down GABA, which is GABA transaminase.
By inhibiting GABA transaminase, GABA levels will increase which will lead to more GABAergic activity in the brain. As discussed earlier, this will help calm us down before sleep and will decrease sleep latency while also increasing slow wave sleep and reducing night time awakenings.
Lemon Balm Extract increases GABAergic activity through a novel, and much more specific, mechanism than the other compounds on our list. It also allows Lemon Balm Extract to be used alongside the other ingredients on this list as it will fortify the GABAergic effects of supplements such as Sensoril Ashwagandha.
Buy Lemon Balm Extract Supplements. Gotu Kolu Extract made the list due to a lot of people around the office reporting that they had great results with taking it before sleep. Furthermore, it also appears to have some significant effects on enhancing memory and overall cognitive function.
These are just a few Gotu Kola uses. In fact, there are a lot more Gotu Kola uses and Gotu Kola benefits that deserve their own blog stay tuned!
So, how does Gotu Kola Extract support sleep quality? It may also work synergistically with other GABAergic supplements..
The research on why Gotu Kola Extract enhances sleep is still somewhat lacking. That said, there does appear to be some clear leads on it improving overall sleep quality. This evidence comes from the fact that when a Gotu Kola dosage is co-administered with supplements that induce sleep via strong GABAergic activity, Gotu Kola Extract appears to enhance the overall time spent asleep beyond what the strong GABAergic agonist is able to produce on its own.
This may indicate that Gotu Kola may produce a significant potentiating effect on our natural GABAergic system. This also means that Gotu Kola Extract may work great as a standalone ingredient by gently enhancing our bodies own GABAergic activity.
It may also work synergistically with other GABAergic supplements. With this in mind, we would suggest the following sleep supplement stack to optimize GABAergic activity before sleep:.
Sensoril Ashwagandha: The first component of this stack is Sensoril Ashwagandha as it appears to signal quite strongly through the GABA-A receptor which is the most important GABA receptor for sleep.
The glyco withanolides contained in Sensoril appear to mimic the effects of GABA. This means that they may be able to bind to GABA receptors in a similar fashion to GABA itself.
Lemon Balm Extract: With Sensoril, we are able to directly increase activity at GABA-A receptor. However, by also introducing Lemon Balm Extract we may be able to enhance natural GABAergic activity.
Again, this is due to the fact that Lemon Balm Extract helps slow down the breakdown of GABA. This should help decrease sleep latency and help enhance overall sleep time. Gotu Kola Extract: To round out the GABA stack, we would recommend including Gotu Kola Extract.
Gotu Kola Extract helps potentiate the activity of other GABAergic compounds, including GABA itself. This means that Gotu Kola extract may help bolster the effects of both Sensoril Ashwagandha and Gotu Kola Extract.
This would make the GABA stack highly relaxing as well as make for a perfect pre-sleep supplement! Buy Gotu Kola Extract Supplements. Click here to view all of Nootropics Depot's sleep support supplements. View more Nootropics Depot blog articles by clicking the links below:.
The Best Supplements to Support Collagen Synthesis and Skin Health. Dynamine Methylliberine: A Fast-Acting, Natural Ingredient That Boosts Focus and Energy. Ashwagandha Benefits - An Ayurvedic Herb For Stress Support, Immune Health, and Restful Sleep.
Nootropics, also Sleeo as "smart drugs," are cognitive enhancers that can Coenzyme Q natural sources Lifestyle habits and bone health by balancing Improvemeng in the brain. Melatonin, magnesium, L-theanine, Coenzyme Q natural sources, and 5-HTP are some Qualityy the best nootropics for fir. However, it's important to find high-quality products and consult with a doctor before use. From cryotherapy and infrared saunas to sleep masks and adaptogensthere are so many different options treatments and products that promise to help you fall asleep, stay asleep, and everything in between. More recently, a slew of cognitive enhancers has entered the market, promising deeper, better sleep. Enter: nootropics.
0 thoughts on “Nootropic for Sleep Quality Improvement”