Want to lose weight and get younger? Start by getting enough sleep! Lack of melatonin, the sleep hormone, disrupts the transmission of hunger and satiety signals during the day, leading to weight gain. What You Need To Know About Melatonin – says Olena Islamkina.
“Melatonin (taken oraly) only increases the speed with which you fall asleep by 3.9 minutes and only increases the quality of your sleep, what we call your sleep efficiency, by just 2.2 percent,” – says sleep scientist Matt Walker
Melatonin regulates the timing of your sleep.
Melatonin as a supplement can be useful for jet lag, social jet lag (if you wake up late and stay up at night on weekends), or for shift workers. It also can be prescribed if you have Covidsomnia, insomnia caused by Covid-19.
3-5g melatonin is a dose for those who travel to another time zone or have insomnia. In other cases, less is better – up to 0,3-0,5mg.
Take melatonin 30 minutes before going to bed. Wrong timing can disturb your sleep-wake timing.
Melatonin supplements can cause very vivid dreams, even nightmares, and dizziness and headaches the next day.
Get enough sunlight in the first part of the day and minimize blue light in the evening to allow the body to synthesize its own melatonin.
We “see” light not only by eyes but by our skin. It’s ok if you use a sleep mask at night, but it may be not enough.
Everything is connected. Tryptophan is the precursor of serotonin, and serotonin converts to melatonin, the sleep hormone. On the keto diet, especially in the beginning, you can have not enough tryptophan because the body is adjusting to the reduced amount of carbs.
L-Tryptophan before bed, tryptophan-rich food (poultry, eggs, shrimps) during the day, or a few berries/nuts before bedtime can help with keto-induced insomnia.
