Optimizing Your Sleep: The All-Natural Supplements You Are Sleeping On

Overview

Sleep deprivation in athletes and people undertaking high-intense fitness training can subject them to a high risk of deteriorating cognition and body functions. In sleep, the body recovers from the load it has been imposed upon during training, as well as, it prepares for further intense training. Research suggests that acute, repetitive levels of body work-outs can prevent athletes from sleeping enough and reaching sound sleeping states. Hence, fitness trainees must become aware of not only the effects of sleep on their training but also the optimization of deep sleep through interventions like appropriate nutritional supplementation.

The Sleep-Wake Cycle

The sleep-wake cycle is a 24-hour pattern of alternating restfulness during the night and wakefulness during the day. In general, adults need 8 hours of sleep after being awake for 16 hours during the day. One of the major factors that control the sleep-wake cycle is the secretion of hormones at periodic time intervals during the sleep-wake cycle. 

Melatonin is a critical hormone in determining the onset and end of the sleep cycle. The decrease in the amount of light entering the eye at night sends a message to the brain to start secreting melatonin. Its secretion peaks by midnight and gradually slows down, coming to an end by the morning as an increasing amount of light begins to reach the eye. For the aforementioned reasons, we made the informed decision to leave out exogenous melatonin inclusion in our new sleep product, DNA Elite Sleep. We solemnly believe that we should let the body do what it’s supposed to do.  There is also emerging and previously backed studies showing that religious supplementation with melatonin can have deleterious effects on normal production of serotonin as well disturbing circadian rhythm in context with recoverability (3,4).

Stages of Sleep

Studies on the electrical activity of the brain during sleep suggest that the entire duration of a night's sleep can be divided into 4 or 5 short, 90-minute cycles. Each cycle occurs in four sleep stages, as follows:

Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) Stage 1

With the onset of melatonin secretion, we tend to doze off and slowly transition to sleep.

NREM Stage 2

We progress in sleep and the body's physiological functions tend to gradually slow down. 

NREM Stage 3 (Slow-wave sleep/SWS)

We enter the deep sleep state during which growth hormones are secreted. The growth hormones secreted during SWS help recover the muscles overworked during intense training during the day. 

Stage 4 (Rapid Eye Movement/REM)

While our body is still sound asleep, the brain experiences short bursts of electrical activity during which dreams commonly occur.

Effect of Intense Training on Sleep

A study conducted on six athletes by measuring the sleep states on 4 consecutive nights after a 92km marathon showed that the athletes spent more time in the wakefulness state than the control subjects immediately after the run due to muscle fatigue (1). On the following nights, however, the time spent in SWS was higher than in the controls emphasizing that the SWS state was when significant muscle recovery occurred. 

 

Optimization of Deep Sleep

In addition to melatonin, several neurotransmitters (chemicals released by nerve cells that act as messengers), such as serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HT) influence our sleep level. Nutritional aids that promote sleep can influence the levels of these neurotransmitters and thus impact the sleep cycle. 

L-Theanine

L-theanine is an amino acid (a breakdown product of a protein) found in tea and is available as supplement capsules as well. Caffeine present in coffee is known to keep the brain in a wakeful state for a longer time than normal, thereby decreasing SWS and REM periods. When L-theanine was administered, however, a reversal of the SWS decrease was observed in rats, suggesting that L-theanine can partially oppose the sleep-disturbing effects of caffeine intake (1). 

L-tryptophan is an amino acid that is a prerequisite substance for the synthesis of melatonin. It gets converted to an intermediary product, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HT), which in turn acts as a precursor of serotonin synthesis. You may find that a lot of sleep products contain 5-HT.  The reason we left out 5-HT and stressed L-Tryptophan is, again, because we believe in letting the body do what it is naturally meant to do with synthesizing molecules.  In this case, letting L-Tryptophan intake create the precursing steps to producing Serotonin from the beginning stages. Serotonin synthesizes melatonin, the sleep-inducing hormone at night. Melatonin secretion signals the brain to transition into the sleep state. Hence,  supplementation with L-tryptophan can induce sleep in athletes by decreasing the extended wakeful period post high-intensity training.

GABA

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an amino acid that functions as a neurotransmitter, carrying messages between brain cells. GABA is known to slow down brain activity which favors the transition to a deep-sleep state (1). Thus GABA supplements can be beneficial for elite athletes in sleep-dependent muscle recovery and rejuvenation.

Glycine

Glycine is an amino acid that has been studied to promote sleep by influencing the onset of sleep states. Glycine is a big deal to us here at DNA. In a study conducted on rats that exhibited sleep disturbances, supplementation of glycine resulted in the stimulation of the REM sleep state (2). In addition, glycine also reduced the latency, that is, decreased the time of onset of the NREM state during which maximum recovery occurs. Here is the interesting thing about Glycine - it has been shown in research that supplementation of 3 grams or more of Glycine can have enough of an effect on lowering core body temperature, a hugely essential part in entering SWS, the state of sleep associated with growth hormone release and true recovery from exercise and daily stressors. It was suggested that potential mechanisms involve increased vasodilation and thus lowering of core temperature and increased extracellular 5-HT release in the prefrontal cortex of rats (1).

Valerian Root

Nutritional aids prepared from the root of the herb, Valeriana officinalis, are effective in inducing sleep and improving sleep quality without producing any side effects. The substance in the herbal root interacts with proteins on the brain cells (called receptors) to which neurotransmitters (e.g., GABA) would bind otherwise and thereby produce a calming effect on the brain, conducive to sleep. 

Tart Cherry

The juice of tart cherries raises the level of external melatonin supplements in the body. A 2-week study of consumption of the tart cherries showed sleep improvement in sleep-deprived subjects (1). In addition, tart cherries also contain chemicals that can potentially affect the sleep cycle positively. 

Conclusion

Sleep has a significant influence on cognition and muscle recovery in elite athletes. Nutritional supplements that promote sleep vary in their effects and mechanism of action. While some influence the amount of overall sleep and sleep states, some impact the onset and quality of sleep. DNA Elite Sleep, our research-backed sleep supplement, can be an informed and all-natural choice for athletes and high-intense work-out performers to depend upon for deep sleep optimization. 

References

1. Halson, S.L. (2014). Sleep in Elite Athletes and Nutritional Interventions to Enhance Sleep. Sports Med 44, 13–23  https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-014-0147-0 
2. Kawai, N., Sakai, N., Okuro, M., Karakawa, S., Tsuneyoshi, Y., Kawasaki, N., Takeda, T., Bannai, M., & Nishino, S. (2015). The sleep-promoting and hypothermic effects of glycine are mediated by NMDA receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Neuropsychopharmacology: official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 40(6), 1405–1416. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2014.326
3. https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/groups/University%20Honors%20Program/Journals_two/dis_sotogarcializeth.pdf 
4. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40261-015-0368-5