I’ve got a lot of au naturel sleep-aid go-to’s.
But, after my dog died, nada worked. I was getting zilch on the Z’s.
My Holy Basil was failing me. My chamomile didn’t work. Even my Valerian was a bust. So, when I saw my friend Beth’s recent post about how she cured her own sleep disorder with some over the counter supplements, I was open minded. See, Beth is a Jill of all trades. She’s a grad student, a yogi, a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember, and she also recently hiked the Appalachian trail. She has a heaps of stress and takes to the woods in between to re-calibrate. Thus, since I’m also a forest-phile, trail jogging addict that I am, I figured her recent woodsy excursion might have been the snooze inducer. I mean, it usually leaves me serene, too. But, actually, she said – that wasn’t really it. What she did do, rather, was cut back on caffeine (from four to one cups a day – finished before 2 P.M.), start meditating again at night, and began an evening regime of supplements and vitamins – namely magnesium citrate and something called 5-HTP.
Now, of course, there was a bunch of great advice here.
Cutting down the caffeine was one. So was the P.M. zen sesh suggestion.
But, of course, the first thing my mind jumped to were the last two listed options:
Organic miracle orbs I can suck down to take down my stress for me.
“It’s like eating your feelings – minus the calories! Or narcotic-y after effects!”
While Magnesium Citrate is great (although – don’t take too much, it gives you the runs) and helpful not only for bringing you better rest but also longevity, I wasn’t sure about the 5-HTP. It’s said to be a precursor to serotonin – which helps stabilize your mood and sense of well being. (Which sounded great to me.) But I did about as much research on it as hours I’d gotten of sleep the night before. (Which, if you’re reading, wasn’t very much.) In my insomnia fugue, I bought it anyway. And I took a supplement last night. And…? Well, while I was a little bit calmer than usual, heading to bed, I still tossed and turned for a little while. I did admittedly sleep. Yet, I realized this morning I was being kindofan idiot by blindly taking this thing and not looking it up myself. So I did today. The results? Well, the Amazon reviews from customers seem to be overall five-starry. However, as I delved into interweb results on the topic, I read that while it’s stellar for ushering you into slumber-land, it also “makes blood serotonin levels much, much higher than brain levels,” and that that could yield long term side effects science has yet to determine. Other long term side effects 5-HTP might possibly cause? Per WebMD:
“When taking by mouth appropriately. 5-HTP has been used safely in doses up to 400 mg daily for up to one year. However, some people who have taken it have developed a condition called eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS), a serious condition involving extreme muscle tenderness (myalgia) and blood abnormalities (eosinophilia).”
Now, as ever, correlation does not mean causation.
It could be that these people were already having some somatic sort’ve issue that was hampering quality mattress time in the first place (like fibromyalgia – which I also have) that was gonna progress over time regardless of what pharmaceutical missile they catapulted into their oral orifice. That’s totally possible. However, it made me realize – when I’ve already got so many other body problems going on to address on the daily, do I really wanna risk it? It could be 100% harmless, sure. But why make myself wonder, somewhere in the back burner of my brain all day, whether I’m causing long term damage?
Sounds to me like just another stressor that… you guessed it… will keep me up at night.
That is, when I finally drag my reluctant rump to bed.
And that’s when I realized it. I’m tallying a whopping nada in quality mattress hours because I’m making a cardinal mistake. I’m hitting the mattress too late. See, I keep myself busy all day as a distraction to forget how sad I am about my dog. And I up my caffeine intake to fuel said busy bee activities. Then, by the time nine or so rolls around, I’m resisting rest in favor of Netflix for another hour. And I’m resisting it for the same reason I stay occupied all day: so that I don’t have to think or feel or be sad as I lay there in bed for fifteen minutes, still awake. What I need to do is a revised version of Beth’s method. I’ve gotta A.) cut the caffeine down. (So that I become slumber-prone enough to wanna go to bed). B.) Cut the dumb streaming series time down. (So my brain’s not lit up like a Hallmark Christmas tree while I’m trying to log it off). And C.) Add back in some P.M. meditation. Oh, yes… that last one’s tough if you’re in hate with your brain’s default thoughts; but much like hiking or jogging through the muddy woods Beth and I love so much – the only way out of that mess is through. So, in part, I’m on board with Beth’s latest M.O. But, seeing all the strange side effects this serotonin precursor thing potentially has… I realize I don’t need another side-effect body-problem. I’ll start up the Magnesium citrate for sure. But, instead’ve reaching for an organic feel-good pill, I’m suddenly willing to do the harder thing. That thing that many of us (myself included, most of the time) aren’t willing to do: change my comfortable albeit chaotic habits instead.
After I’ve tried those three au-natch hacks – if I’m still wide awake – then maybe I’ll research this 5-HTP further.
But I have a pretty good feeling I won’t need to.