My Balance Sleep Aid
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in every 3 adults do not get enough sleep. When you don’t get the required amount of sleep every day, your health and wellbeing can be affected, including your ability to do day-to-day activities and perform efficiently at work or school.
Adults generally need to sleep for at least 7 or more hours every day to stay fully healthy. Any sleep that’s less than 7 hours in a 24-hour period is termed “Short” by the CDC.1 Apart from lack of sleep, there’s also the need to take into consideration the quality of sleep one gets. Poor sleep quality can include breathing difficulties, waking up too often at night, and an uncomfortable sleeping environment.
Some of the symptoms a sleep-deprived person might notice mood changes, fatigue, difficulty in remembering stuffs, and low libido.2 And some of these symptoms may be as result of several effects on the health of your body, which may include:
- Weakened immune system
- Changes in body weight
- Irregular hormone production
- Poor fertility
- Improper brain functioning
Long term effects of sleep deprivation may cause serious health challenges like hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart attack, stroke, depression, and anxiety.2
Sleep Aid Supplement
To fight sleep deprivation and improve overall quality of sleep, a lot of people have turned to sleep aid supplements for quick relief. Sleep aid supplements work by physically relaxing your muscles, raising sleep-hormones levels, and reducing stress throughout the body. They might have the ability to calm the mind and ease common causes of sleeplessness. With My Balance’s “Natural Sleep Aid" you have a product that’s designed to relax and calm your mind, in addition to helping regulate your sleep-wake cycle. It is formulated from natural healthy ingredients only. It contains melatonin, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6, and a sleep formula proprietary blend that contains L-tryptophan, goji, chamomile, lemon balm, passionflower, L-taurine, hops, St. John’s wort, GABA, skullcap, L-theanine, Ashwagandha, inositol, 5-HTP.
- Melatonin
Your body produces the hormone, melatonin, which signals to your brain that it’s time to drift off. On a normal basis, melatonin levels in your body is influenced by the time of the day, with high levels in the evening and low during the day.
Research have proven the fact that supplementation with this hormone can improve a person’s sleep quality, reduce the time needed to fall asleep, and increase sleep time.3,4
When the melatonin cycle is disrupted, one may find it difficult to fall asleep. This is especially true for people that may have to work during the night and sleep during daytime. To fight this, melatonin supplementation may help, as particular research has shown.5
- Calcium and Magnesium
Research has shown that calcium is directly related to sleep cycle, with its deficiency able to cause sleep disturbances. In same research, correction of blood calcium levels to optimal amounts was able to restore the normal sleep cycle.6
Interestingly, calcium also makes use of the amino acid, tryptophan, to manufacture the sleep-inducing melatonin. This of course explains why dairy products (rich in calcium and tryptophan) are known to be one of the top sleep-inducing foods around.
On the other hand, when there’s a magnesium deficiency, a chronic insomnia has been found to be one of the main symptoms. And just as expected, high magnesium levels were associated with a calm sleep, that’s less interrupted.6
- Vitamin B6
Vitamins B6 or pyridoxine has been shown by research to act as a coenzyme in the production of melatonin, the body’s sleep-inducing hormone. Also, its deficiency has been attributed to sleep disturbances.7 Also, vitamin B6 helps in the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps in the regulation of melatonin. Low levels of serotonin in the body are associated with depression, just like how there’s a strong association between depression and lack of sleep.8
- Proprietary blend
- L-tryptophan
L-tryptophan is one of the essential amino acids that are necessary for the synthesis of proteins. It can be naturally found in some food items like red meat, eggs, dairy, and poultry. This amino acid is thought to aid sleep by increasing the production of the sleep hormone, melatonin.12
Research has found that, intake of L-tryptophan at a dose of one gram at about 45 minutes before bedtime, can significantly reduce the time taken to fall asleep in people with mild insomnia, and without interfering with the basic structural organisation of sleep.12
- Goji: A research has shown that consumption of goji berries has the potential to improve sleep quality, raise energy levels, improve athletic performance, and general wellbeing. 9 This might be because goji berries contain some amount of phytomelatonin, which has been shown by scientific studies to possess sleep-inducing properties.13 Interestingly, research found goji berries to contain more phytomelatonin than five other berries.14
- Chamomile: This medicinal herb has long been used to treat insomnia. It contains a flavonoid, known as apigenin, which has been shown to possess sedative properties.10 It is believed that the ability of apigenin to bind to benzodiazepine receptors in the brain and increase GABA transmission, is responsible for the sedative properties of chamomile. In fact, we have the benzodiazepines, which are drugs used against insomnia that follow the same pathway.15
- Ashwagandha
In research published in PLoS one journal, ashwagandha intake was found to possess beneficial effects in improving sleep in adults, especially those with insomnia.16 In another research, intake of ashwagandha root extract twice daily for a period of 10 weeks, was found to significantly improve sleep parameters like sleep onset latency (SOL), total sleep time (TST), and sleep efficiency.11
- Lemon balm
Lemon balm is a herb that belongs to the mint family. Traditionally, it has been used to soothe stress and anxiety.17 There’s evidence that intake of lemon balm along with valerian can be effective in fighting disorders that may negatively impact your quality and quantity of sleep.18
- Passionflower
Many studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of passionflower in aiding sleep. However, most of these studies used laboratory animals as their subjects. However, clinical research was published by the Phytotherapy Research Journal in 2011 to test such effects in humans. Interestingly, the research found consumption of passionflower (in the form of tea) to cause short-term subjective sleep benefits in healthy adults with mild fluctuations in sleep quality.19
- GABA
Gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) is the main neurotransmitter of the central nervous system. The activation of its receptors has been well established to aid sleep. Numerous studies have shown that GABA may have stress-reducing and sleep enhancing effects.20 To test this sleep enhancing effects, research published in the journal of clinical neurology, found intake of GABA to significantly improve sleep quality in people with insomnia.21
- L-taurine
L-taurine acts by supporting the function of GABA. Research-based findings have shown that, this neuromodulator may have some sleep-inducing properties. 22
- L-theanine
This amino acid is naturally found in tea leaves. Research has shown that it may help people fall asleep easily. It works to promote good sleep through anxiolysis (mild sedation).23
- Inositol
Inositol is a sugar that is produced naturally in the body. It can also be found in food materials. It is known to possess many health benefits such as regulating blood sugar, blood pressure, and triglyceride levels.24 Research has found that supplementation with inositol can help improve sleep quality.25
- 5-HTP
5-Hydroxytryptophan, commonly referred to as 5-HTP, is an amino acid that is produced naturally in the body. Our body utilizes this amino acid to produce serotonin. And low levels of serotonin in the body have been linked to conditions like insomnia and depression.26
- Skullcap
The skullcap has gained a lot of traction for its sleep-inducing effects. When used along with other herbs like valerian, it produces a mild sedative effect. The skullcap contains some flavonoids like scutellarin and baicalin, which are believed to be responsible for its sedative property. It is thought that the flavonoids may act as GABA agonists, just like the benzodiazepine's drugs.27
- John’s wort
St. John’s wort has some beneficial effects in treating mild to moderate depression. In fact, some evidence suggest it could be as effective as some prescription antidepressant.28 Research has shown that its extract could have a therapeutic potential in the management of sleep problems.29
- Hops
Scientific studies have shown that hops may have sedative properties. It is believed that these sedative properties come from the resins it contains, especially the the α-acid component of 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol. These raisins work by increasing the activity of the neurotransmitter, GABA.30
If you are looking for a one stop solution to your sleep problems, My balance’s Natural Sleep Aid might work wonders for you. With over 15 research-proven components, no sleeping aid comes close to My Balance’s Natural Sleep aid supplement.
REFERENCES
- https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/infographic/sleep.htm
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/307334#effects-on-the-body
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28648359/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33417003/
- https://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor2376
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/163169#1
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965229919303711
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17984558
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18447631/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6472148/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31728244/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC161739
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6017233/
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355136914_Investigation_of_Melatonin_Content_and_Antioxidant_Capacity_in_Grape_Berries
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/benzodiazepine-receptor-stimulating-agent
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8462692/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4245564/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0944711306000250?via%3Dihub
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21294203/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7527439/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29856155/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3630960/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25759004
- https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-299/inositol
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32933356/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17984558/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK548757
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-st-johns-wort/art-20362212
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17918039/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22849837/
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