Supplements & functional ingredients
Grandner suggests that insomnia disorder is best tackled via cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). To put it differently, the endless debates about the efficacy of melatonin risk missing the point. Neither a miracle hormone nor mere snake oil, what really matters is what it’s used to treat. You could plausibly say something similar about other sleep supplements too. Magnesium, for instance, does have properties that apparently quiet down brain cell activity and relax muscles. But if that might calm nerves, it’d be wrong to call it sleep- inducing in the same way as a Valium. It’s the same story, Grandner adds, with valerian and camomile. “The molecules in it should presumably cause some sedation,” he says, “but they don’t seem to fix sleep problems.”
Sleep on it
Melatonin or valerian? Capsules or oils? There are plenty of options on the market, but how effective are sleep supplements?
reality? Melatonin is a good place to start, and not merely because it’s the most popular sleep supplement by far. Naturally occurring in the pineal gland of the brain, Grandner says that it’s there to “tell your body when it should start getting ready for sleep”. For that reason, ingesting a lot of melatonin during the day, when the body isn’t expecting it, isn’t going to do much. On the contrary, Grandner recommends small doses a few hours before bedtime. Too much, he says, risks messing up the sleep cycle and rendering users sleepy even the next morning. “A low dose melatonin relatively early can help shift your [sleep] curve – but it doesn’t change your sleep.”
“A low dose melatonin relatively early can help shift your [sleep] curve – but it doesn’t change your sleep.”
209,000
The number of productive days lost due to lack of sleep in Germany.
RAND Europe 32
In short, melatonin seems like a safe bet for people who battle to get to sleep occasionally or are looking to start their rest cycle earlier. Crucially, however, it is ineffective for sufferers of so-called insomnia disorder. Unlike sporadic light sleep, insomnia disorder is a diagnosable medical condition, whereby sufferers struggle to initiate or maintain sleep at least three nights a week for at least three months, and where their daytime functioning is drastically impacted as a result. More to the point, insomnia disorder has little to do with melatonin or the lack thereof. At its root is a psychological problem – sufferers tend to become stressed about the very act of sleeping, a worry that worsens as time goes on – and instead
While sleep supplements – when taken with sufficient care – can certainly contribute to more restful evenings, it seems clear that the story is far more complex. Not that this should be particularly surprising. Central to the evolution of life on Earth for literally millions of years, Grandner notes that even creatures like fruit flies have “shockingly similar” circadian rhythms to humans. Trying, therefore, to shape a force as elemental as sleep with tools as blunt as sleep supplements is probably a waste of time – or anyway a bad idea. “If you want to drag yourself kicking and screaming into unconsciousness – whether you like it or not – we can do that, but it’s going to come with negative effects,” is how Grandner vividly explains it. That’s undoubtedly true. Quite aside from their efficacy, there’s rising evidence that even supplements like melatonin can sometimes come with unpleasant side effects, ranging from stomach aches to nausea. And that, of course, is before you consider the more dangerous risks of actual sleeping pills, with older users especially likely to suffer falls, often resulting in injuries like broken hips. It hardly seems unreasonable, therefore, to consider more holistic ways to get enough sleep. As Grandner says, CBT can be particularly valuable for sufferers of insomnia disorder. For less serious cases, the old clichés really do apply. According to a trio of Swiss researchers, for instance, the blue light emitted from smartphones and laptops may well prevent young adults from sleeping soundly. Heavy meals and alcohol can be detrimental too, even as regular exercise can spur shuteye as evening falls. That’s not to say that melatonin or any other sleep supplement is entirely useless. But as with so many other modern health problems, lifestyle matters too, whatever pills you’re taking. ●
Ingredients Insight /
www.ingredients-insight.com
Aiman Dairabaeva/
Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
