Vitamin D Supplements Could Help People With Sleep Disorders, Study Says

SLEEP DISORDERS SEEM TO BE GETTING INCREASINGLY MORE COMMON.

A scientific study suggests vitamin D supplements could be used to improve the sleep quality of people with sleep disorders. For those who spend their nights counting sheep and watching alarm clocks, it might sound like a "miracle cure", but could a simple dietary supplement pill really be the solution to serious sleep disorders?

A team of Iranian scientists carried out a clinical trial earlier this year that concluded: "the use of vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality, reduces sleep latency, [and] raises sleep duration." Their results were published in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience.

They gathered 89 people, aged 20 to 50 years, suffering from sleep disorders. Over a period of 8 weeks, 44 participants took a vitamin D supplement and the rest a placebo. Before and after the experiment, they were given a sleep quality questionnaire, a diet assessment, and an extensive questioning of their lifestyle and fitness.

By the end of the study, the vitamin D recipients had dramatically improved sleep quality compared to placebo recipients.

This was one of the first clinical trials of its kind to investigate the effect of vitamin D on sleep disorders, so it’s still early days to reach any conclusions. Indeed, like all "X can help to cure Y" stories you read, it should be taken with a pinch of salt (or should that be low-sodium salt alternatives?)

Nevertheless, what can we take from this study?

It’s estimated that over 50 percent of people could be deficient in vitamin D. There are two different vitamin Ds – D2, which mainly comes from our diet and D3 which comes from the Sun’s ultraviolet B (UVB) rays. On the whole, it’s fair to say that most vitamin supplements are a waste of time and money, much of which will just pass through your body and end up in brightly-colored pee. However, vitamin D supplements can be worthwhile to take because it's relatively hard to obtain from our diet. Equally, many people do not get enough exposure to the Sun, especially in the winter months.

It’s also one of a few dozen essential micronutrients to humans with many uses in the body. Scientists aren't totally sure about its link to sleep just yet, however, there’s mounting evidence to suggest there's some association between the two. A study from 2015 of over 3,000 older men found that those with a lower level of Vitamin D in their bodies were more likely to suffer from poorer sleep.

This all said, the effect of vitamin D supplements on health continues to be controversial. It might sound like a cliché ending to a miraculous-sounding health story, but further research needs to be carried out before we all start munching down on vitamin D pills and enjoying sweet dreams.

Source

 

Reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL), depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality are important health issues among postmenopausal women and may be associated with low vitamin D status. Overweight postmenopausal women, with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] 10–32 ng/m, were recruited in Seattle, WA (2010–2012) and randomly assigned to 12 months of weight loss + 2000 IU oral vitamin D3/day or weight loss + daily placebo. The weight-loss program included a reduced-calorie diet and 225 min/week of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic activity. Eight subscales of HRQOL were assessed by the MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Brief Symptom Inventory-18, and sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Mean 12-month changes in HRQOL, depressive symptoms and sleep quality were compared between groups (intent-to-treat) using generalized estimating equations. Compared to placebo, women receiving vitamin D did not experience any significant change in depressive symptoms (p=0.78), HRQOL subscales (all p>0.05), or overall sleep quality (p=0.21). However, a greater magnitude of change in serum 25(OH)D was associated with an increased need to take medications to sleep (ptrend=0.01) and overall worse sleep quality (ptrend<0.01). Women who became vitamin D replete (≥32 ng/mL) also showed a deterioration in total PSQI sleep quality score compared to women who remained <32 ng/mL despite supplementation, even after adjusting for relevant covariates (Non-Replete: −5.7% vs. Replete: +6.2%, p<0.01). Vitamin D supplementation of 2000 IU/d may result in overall worse sleep quality for postmenopausal women with low circulating vitamin D undergoing weight loss.

Keywords: 25-hydroxyvitamin D, caloric restriction, exercise, quality of life, sleep, depression

 

Repletion of Vitamin D associated with deterioration of sleep quality among postmenopausal women
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5118122/