Article highlights:
- Deep sleep is essential for brain function, physical repair, memory, and overall health.
- Healthy sleep habits matter: keep consistent sleep/wake times, get morning sunlight, limit evening screens, and avoid alcohol.
- Nutrition can support sleep, especially magnesium, calcium, glycine, B vitamins, vitamin D, omega-3s, iron, and zinc.
If you toss and turn, wake during the night, or have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, you’re not alone. Millions of people struggle with poor quality sleep or insomnia. The effects of mental fogginess, drowsiness, and exhaustion can interfere with your ability to get through the day’s tasks. Furthermore, sleep deprivation adds to your repair deficit making your brain and body age faster. Deep restorative sleep is a priority regardless of age and abilities. Discover the most important nutrients required for quality deep sleep.
Sleep Stages
Normal sleep consists of non-REM Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, and Stage 4 REM sleep. Your brain cycles through these stages during a normal 8 hours of sleep. As it goes through different stages, your brain is engaged in numerous repair processes that affect your daytime mental and physical performance. Neurocognitive functions, motor skills, memorization, emotional processing, and memory consolidation and recall depend upon normal sleep.
Most Refreshing Stage of Sleep
The most refreshing restorative stage of sleep is stage 3 non-REM sleep or slow (delta) wave/deep sleep. During stage 3 deep sleep, growth hormone is released by your pituitary to promote tissue repair throughout your body.
Restorative sleep supports the tone of the vagus nerve which is the long nerve that communicates from the brain to the gut and most other internal organs. Deep sleep is needed to modulate immune system activities and mitochondrial repair, support balanced blood sugar levels, appetite regulation and metabolic activity, bone and tissue repair, brain detoxification, vitality, rejuvenation and overall homeostasis.
Many adults miss out on a full 7-8 hours of sleep a night, or have light, fitful sleep which decreases the time possible in slow wave sleep. Furthermore, with age, there is a natural decline in the amount of time spent in slow wave/deep sleep.
Effects of Sleep Deprivation
When you push through the day with a lack of sleep, the effects of sleep deprivation take a toll on your whole body. Even one night of missing sleep ages your brain. Each night of sleep deprivation contributes to an increased burden of tau protein and other metabolic waste accumulating within brain cells. Impaired tau protein clearance makes your brain work less efficiently causing brain fog, memory changes, irritability and other mood changes, poor concentration, and a decline in cognitive sharpness.
The effects of sleep deprivation also include increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and neurodegenerative disorders. It can lead to tremors or muscle aches, affect heart rate variability, decrease exercise tolerance, increase chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, and impair mitochondrial function. It affects your reaction times, work productivity, and risk for accidents.
Sleep deprivation research shows that being awake for 18 hours impairs performance and is equivalent to 0.05% blood alcohol content. Furthermore, being awake for 24 hours impairs brain performance similar to blood alcohol content of 0.10%.
Getting quality sleep with slow wave/deep sleep is critical for health. Understanding how to help your body recover and repair with quality sleep is essential. Several factors such as those related to light/dark circadian rhythm, wake times, number of hours, and nutrients influence your sleep repair and quality.
Light-Dark Circadian Rhythms and Artificial Light
In the last 20 years, artificial light exposure has dramatically increased across the globe. More lights have been added with higher intensity LED lights which emit a different color. Artificial light exposure at night interferes with circadian rhythm, melatonin production, and overall sleep quality and quantity.
To help the engage the night/dark circadian rhythm and melatonin, be mindful about light exposures before bed. Using a blue light filter on your devices helps reduce overall exposure. Avoid screen time and other intense artificial light exposure 2 hours before bedtime. Use blackout curtains to ensure a dark bedroom.
Other factors such as noise, bedroom temperatures above 72 degrees, snoring partners, pets, children, and other factors can interfere with achieving deep sleep.
Alcohol
Alcohol intake is another factor that interferes with the slow wave sleep resulting in poorer sleep quality and less tissue repair. Alcohol use reduces your body’s capacity for repair as it disrupts gut intestinal barrier integrity and increases your total body burden of toxins and oxidative stress.
Consistent Wake Times, Sunlight Exposure, and Mealtimes
Consistent wake times are considered the primary need in regulating sleep times and quality. In response to this and morning daylight exposure, the master body clock, known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus, synchronizes all other body clocks and circadian patterns throughout your body.
Irregular sleep-wake times and schedules interfere with the synchronicity that the SCN and body clock rhythms need. You are likely to have experienced these effects when you have slept extra hours in the morning and then are unable to get to sleep at your regular bedtime the same night.
In addition, meal timing, i.e. breakfast within 90 minutes of awakening cues your 24-hour body clocks that affect your sleep-wake cycle. The Leptin Diet and the Five Rules with whole foods support this synchronicity. Avoid high glycemic index foods and beverages, especially later in the day, as blood sugar dysregulation interferes with sleep quality.
Being in sync with the light/dark, wake/sleep and meal timing circadian rhythms help your overall sleep quality and architecture for restorative sleep.
How Many Hours of Sleep Do I Need?
The National Sleep Foundation recommendations for sleep are:
0-3 months 16 hours
3-18 months 14 hours
1.5-3 years 12 hours
5-12 years 9-10 hours
13+ 8 +
Adults 7+
Body Temperature and Sleep
Your body naturally begins lowering its core temperature in the evening as part of the circadian sleep process. A warm bath for 10 minutes or longer, 1-2 hours before bed helps lower your body temperature. This supports your natural circadian rhythm and enhances the release of the sleep hormone melatonin. Other tools that help your body cool down include air conditioning, a fan, natural fabrics, or cooling sheets that allow body heat to disperse more easily.
Individuals with irregular schedules, women, and the elderly are more likely to experience irregular body temperature circadian rhythms leading to impaired sleep. History tells us this was recognized by 7th Century essayist Robert Burton who said, “A hot brain does not sleep.”
Melatonin supplements can also be taken before bed to enhance melatonin levels.
Nutritional Support for Slow Wave Sleep and Sleep Mechanisms
Sleep deprivation is costly to your body as sleep is the best time for your body to repair. When you miss sleep, your repair deficits increase. It is critical to ensure quality sleep and enhance support for slow wave sleep. Numerous nutrients help enhance sleep quality and slow-wave sleep.
Protein contains the amino acid tryptophan which is required for serotonin and melatonin formation. The best sources of tryptophan are found in animal proteins like poultry, beef, pork, fish, dairy, and whey protein with lesser amounts in plant-based protein sources. Tryptophan does not naturally occur in collagen-based protein supplements.
Calcium movement across cell membranes is involved with cell signaling activities that control slow wave activities and sleep regulation. A recent study showed that shift workers experienced more disturbed sleep with lower, albeit normal calcium levels.
Calcium is also essential for vitamin D function which also includes circadian rhythm and slow wave sleep architecture. Furthermore, together with magnesium, these minerals modulate nerve activity and support stability which enhances GABA levels, a calming neurotransmitter.
Magnesium is essential to engage and support restorative slow wave sleep. It also helps dampen stress hormones like cortisol and buffers against oxidative stress. Magnesium is commonly lacking in the Western diet, is depleted by numerous medications, and is rapidly depleted during stress.
Glycine, an amino acid, acts as a calming or inhibitory neurotransmitter which supports sleep quality and getting to sleep. It may also help with temperature regulation for sleep onset.
Theanine supports relaxation and may reduce the time it takes to get to sleep as well as slow wave sleep. It helps to lower cortisol levels and stress reactivity within the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). This buffering effect helps to reduce the depletion of GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter and tryptophan, a precursor for serotonin and melatonin production from stress.
B vitamins such as B6, B12, and folate play important roles in neurotransmitter and sleep hormone formation and activities. Vitamin B6 is required for the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin and GABA. Folate and B12 are involved with actions related to melatonin production.
Vitamin D affects sleep regulation in a number of ways. These include its role in serotonin and melatonin secretion, sleep onset, efficiency, quality, and duration. Studies show that vitamin D levels below 20 ng/mL increase the likelihood of impaired sleep.
Omega-3 fish oil also impacts sleep quality and efficiency. These essential fatty acids are necessary to keep cell membranes pliable and fluid. They also support cell signaling, modulation of cytokines and other inflammatory compounds and enhance serotonin receptor signaling.
Iron supports dopamine production which is essential to regulating sleep-wake rhythms. Insufficient iron intake contributes to restless legs at night and is the most common mineral insufficiency across the globe.
Zinc is essential for sleep architecture, the stages and patterns of the different stages of sleep. Studies show sufficient zinc is associated with good sleep quality in adolescents and adults.
Quality Nutritional Supplements to Enhance Your Sleep
RelaxaMag provides a blend of magnesium with glycine or magnesium bisglycinate. It has been a customer favorite for decades to enhance sleep quality and relaxation. Take 1-3 capsules at bed or as needed during the day to calm stressful feelings.
Tri-Cal provides a blend of calcium with taurine and glycine to enhance sleep quality. Take 1-3 capsules at bed or as desired to help with anxious or wired feelings during the day. RelaxaMag and Tri-Cal may be taken together. It helps adults and children with getting to sleep, staying asleep, and big feelings that interfere with sleep or daytime overwhelm.
Sleep Helper0 contains theanine and taurine as well as relaxing GABA supporting herbs lemon balm and passion flower. This is a great blend when you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed at night or during the day. Dosage is 1-2 capsules at bed, and as needed during the day.
Daily DHA is a superior quality fish oil high in the DHA omega-3 which is essential for neurological health. The Western diet substantially lacks omega-3 fish oils which undermines overall brain health, circadian rhythm, repair and restoration needs. DHA Kids provides a smaller gel capsule. DHA may be taken during the day and at bed, 1-2 capsules up to three times per day.
Vitamin D is available as vitamin D3 in 1000 IU and 2500 IU, or a Vitamin D3 (5000 IU) + K2 option. Even if you are outside in the summer, you may not be getting enough vitamin D. Common adult dosage is 2500 – 5000 IU per day. It may be taken during the day or at bed. Get your vitamin D levels checked at least once per year with a blood test. Test, don’t guess!
Melatonin is a sleep hormone as well as very important antioxidant produced by mitochondria. With age and artificial light exposure, the amount of melatonin produced declines leading to less restorative sleep and tissue repair. We offer a 0.5 mg and a 3 mg option. Take 30 to 60 minutes before bed. Melatonin doses range from 0.5 to 9 mg or even much higher.
Restorative sleep is a precious health commodity. Find a combination of support to provide you with quality sleep. Insight into sleep quality can be obtained with the use of some smart watches or if you have severe, persisting concerns, seek help with a professional sleep study evaluation. Do you wake up “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” or do you need 5 alarms and 3 pots of coffee to get you going for the day?
Additional Resources
One Night of Sleep Deprivation Ages Your Brain
Melatonin, Mitochondria, Circadian Rhythms – Are You in Sync?
How to Manage Cortisol and Stress for Energy, Mood, and Sleep
Theanine: Stress Management and Beyond
Vitamin D and DHA Needed for Serotonin, Mood, and Impulse Control
Vagus Nerve Vitality: Calming Stress and Restoring Gut Health
Heart Rate Variability – What’s Your Trend?
