The importance of choosing a vegan or vegetarian sleep supplement

You don’t want to give your body anything but the best, so why would you fill it with unhealthy ingredients to help you fall asleep? Few people know the benefits of using a vegan sleep aid but the truth is that these natural supplements have advantages even a non-vegan or vegetarian will appreciate.

What difference will vegan sleeping pills make on your sleep levels? Let’s look at the details behind some of the most common ingredients to help you find out.

Why vegan sleep aids?

Regardless of your eating preferences, choosing a vegan sleep aid is a smart way to reduce your exposure to the unsavoury ingredients that are common in non-vegan sleeping pills.

It’s easy to assume that because something is marketed as natural, that it must be good for you - most people are surprised to learn what’s really in their natural supplements. For instance, many vitamin D products contain lanolin, a compound that’s derived from sheep’s wool. Though these supplements still are marketed as “natural,” because they are derived from a natural source but they are far from vegan-friendly.

So what ingredients should you select for instead to solve vegan sleep problems? Let’s look into some of the animal-free ingredients that are safe for a vegan diet. Insomnia won’t interfere with your sleep anymore if you use a supplement that contains them.

Common ingredients in vegan sleep aids

What should you look for in a vegan sleep aid? Below are some ingredients that make a difference:

Tryptophan

L-tryptophan is an essential supplement for aiding sleep because it balances hormone levels to calm your mood and promote feelings of drowsiness. However, the compound is far from vegan-friendly. Tryptophan supplements usually extract their ingredients from turkey, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, fish and milk. Some brands also save production costs by sourcing the compound from Southeast Asian duck feathers.

Vegans are often deficient in tryptophan because they don’t eat the animal products that contain it. Thankfully, plant-based varieties can be extracted from bananas, dates, and nuts, and the resulting compound is just as valid as a sleep aid. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, ensure your sleeping supplement uses these forms of tryptophan instead.

5-HTP

This byproduct of tryptophan is an essential sleep aid because it helps the body produce more serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates your sleep-wake cycles. Ample levels ensure you maintain a positive mood and enjoy restful sleep at night. You can get vegan sources of 5-HTP from seeds of the Griffonia plant, a species native to West Africa. Not all sources are vegan-friendly, so research your sleep brand carefully to ensure you know where they source their ingredients.

Taurine

Forget those Red Bull rumours that taurine only comes from bull semen - this essential sleep aid is also found in meat, fish, and dairy products (and it’s no longer used in Red Bull either).

Taurine is essential for sleep because it promotes a natural calming effect on your body. Vegans and vegetarians needn’t stress about their supply, as the compound is almost always naturally synthesised in labs and free from animal products when it’s used.

Biotin

Biotin is a vitamin that promotes the growth of healthy hair and nails. It is also a crucial compound for fostering quality sleep because it regulates the production of cellular energy so that your body begins to slow down at bedtime.

Vegans tend to be low on biotin, as eggs are a significant source of the compound. That’s why it’s crucial that they source vegan sleeping pills, which use biotin that’s derived from bananas and other plants to ensure their levels stay high.

Fillers

It’s important to pay attention to the filler ingredients in your sleep aid, as many include magnesium stearate, a substance derived from gelatin, or animal bone matter. Vegan supplements will use a plant-based source instead.

Likewise, the capsule coating ingredient caprylic acid can be both vegan or not vegan, so strive to track down supplements that rely on non-animal sources for it like palm oil.

Vegan and suffering sleep problems?

As we’ve touched on above, if you follow a Vegan diet and you’re struggling to sleep, it could be that you’re deficient in a number of nutrients essential for sleep.

Advanced Night-Time Nutrients: A vegan sleep aid

Finding a sleep solution that complies with a plant-based diet is difficult, which is why we designed our Advanced Night-Time Nutrients as a vegan sleeping pill. Our proprietary formula is 100% vegan-friendly and it contains ingredients like tart Montmorency cherries for melatonin, and plant-based forms of tryptophan, 5-HTP, and biotin, and taurine.

Try our Advanced Night-Time Nutrients today, and you might be amazed how well this vegan sleep aid helps you sleep each night. 97% of our customers say they slept better and 98% would recommend us to a friend.

Visit The Restored Blog for more practical guidance to help restore your foundations in sleep, nutrition, movement and mindset.

The information shared in The Restored articles are not intended to replace qualified health care professional advice and are not intended as medical advice. Always seek the advice of your GP or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding any medical condition.