Over the years, sleep problems have come up on occasions on UKC. Having found something to help my 10yrs+ problems thought I would share as it maybe of use to others. Interested to hear if others have tried same and to what effect. Firstly usual disclaimer of do not try this without seeking medical advice first, and entirely at your own risk if you do. Supplements are not for everyone.
Anyway long story shorter, last year as a "last" resort, I started on Vit D3 supplements. Small improvements were noted within a couple of weeks. Months of altering dosage/fine tuning with dosage levels, timing, placebo effect studying, etc, addition of a general multivitamin followed.
Result, my sleep problems have been significantly improved and my life has been transformed! 1or 2 nights a week of inability to sleep are now 1 or 2 a month, 5-6 nights of sleep as little as 3-4 hrs a night are now usually 7 days of 6-8 hrs a night. My sleep is still not ideal as my need is about 8hrs a night, but is more normal now. As sleep is of paramount importance to the restorative functions of the body I’ve had many expected spin offs - unfortunately my climbing ability has not improved!
I’ll not go into dosages as that will be personal, although I have had blood test
http://www.vitamindtest.org.uk/ and will have more in future to check (they are not recommended more than every six months). Most research appears to be American and the US uses a different scale so be aware of that if you get a test or already know your UK Vit D blood level. Also beware that US and the UK governments and the different organisations within each country all have different recommended “safe” levels of Vit D3 supplementation and overdosing can happen and too much in the blood can increase sleep problems as well as other things. Check out for yourself this and other reported effects of taking Vit D3, as well as the need to have a multi vitamin as the same time, and timing. Morning is my time as many report inability to sleep if taken at night. US research shows level in the blood needs to be 60-80ng/ml for good sleep and anything less than 50 ng/ml appears to bring on sleep problems as does greater than 80. Problem with the NHS is they say anything above 20 ng/ml (50 on their scale of nmol/l) is considered adequate under current guidance so they do not recognise the need for supplements.
I will leave you to google if you are further interested but I found links to Dr Stasha Gominak to be very informative and it was her articles that convinced me I had little to lose but lots to gain in trying out Vit D3 supplements. She has five youtube videos but you will need a few hours to view them all. Many other links/google searches seem to confirm. Laughably, my GP after many years of no help, was suddenly interested in my “cure” and basically said she would not dismiss Vit D’s effects on sleep and that in the UK we now learning more and more about Vit D and its general need and effects and specifically there are studies with using Vit D to help alzheimers.
Anyone else using Vit D3 for sleep problems? Anyone with medical background care to comment? Sleep deprivation is horrible so hope others with chronic unexplained sleep problems find a “solution” to their problems, but I am going to continue with Vit D3 at least for the foreseeable future. Remember to take medical advice.
