Sleep deprivation is a serious issue. And if you’re one of the unlucky ones who has trouble drifting off, then spends all night tossing and turning, you’re not alone.

Advanced Night-Time Nutrients - Sleep Better Without Counting Sheep

Up to 26% of adults claim to experience sleep deprivation (1) and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 3 of us don’t get enough shut eye. (2)

What are the effects of sleep deprivation?

Aside from just making you tired, and perhaps a little cranky, the effects of sleep deprivation - not just in terms of time spent asleep, but regarding quality of sleep too - are far-reaching. Studies show a drastic lowering of cognitive function, an increase in the risk of cancer, obesity, heart disease and diabetes, as well as emotional instability, massive rises in stress levels and even a loss of brain tissue. (3-9)

Continued sleep deprivation can lead to sleep anxiety, making sleep harder

The trouble is, knowing all this often just makes getting (and staying) asleep even harder. You know you need to be well-rested to perform at your best, be alert and maintain energy throughout the next day, but no matter what you do, it just seems impossible. Perhaps you even try herbal teas, blackout blinds, listening to soothing music, switching all your technology off 2 hours before bed, or the ultimate - counting sheep, but it still takes you hours to drift off. Then, when you eventually do, your sleep is broken, you wake up multiple times and so you need to use caffeine or sugary snacks to get you through at work.

Then the whole cycle repeats itself night after night after night.

A natural sleep aid like Advanced Night-Time Nutrients can help

If this sounds like you, then help could be at hand. Research is emerging regarding the effectiveness of a specific blend of certain naturally occurring compounds that work in synergy to not only help you get to sleep, but also ensure that you wake up feeling refreshed and recharged, full of energy, free of stress and anxiety, and ready to take on the day.

In this article you can find out more about the specific components of The Restored's Advanced Night-Time Nutrients - the only product currently using this precise blend of ingredients to help restless sleepers across the world.

5-HTP

Chances are you’ve heard of 5-HTP (or to give it its full name, 5-Hydroxytryptophan) especially if you’ve tried sleeping supplements before. 5-HTP is a precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is often known as the ‘happy hormone.’ Increased levels of serotonin have been shown in studies to help regulate a number of factors, including sleep, depression, anxiety, aggression and even pain cessation. (10)

You may have taken 5-HTP on its own before, or in low-quality blends, and for some people, this can have a small, temporary effect. On the whole though, Any effect either isn’t noticeable, or wears off extremely quickly. It can even be the case that 5-HTP taken in isolation reduces the bioactivity of another feel-good hormone - dopamine, which cancels out any rise in serotonin. (11) This is just another reason why taking a purpose-made blend, is essential for optimal results. You can’t put your health and happiness in the hands of 5-HTP on its own.

L-Tryptophan

5-HTP may work by increasing serotonin levels directly, but L-tryptophan goes about things a different way.

L-tryptophan is an essential amino acid, which our bodies can’t make themselves, so we have to ingest it in some way, either through food or supplementation.

After absorbing L-tryptophan, it’s converted to 5-HTP and then into serotonin. If you’re wondering whether this fact makes either L-tryptophan or 5-HTP redundant, fear not - rather than competing with each other, these two compounds work in harmony to raise your serotonin levels safely and naturally and are entirely synergistic.

While you can get small amounts of L-tryptophan from different plant and animal proteins like spirulina, it’s virtually impossible to do so in high enough quantities to get the desired effect, especially if you’re a restless sleeper. (12)

Tart Cherries, grape skin and watermelon

Ever thought about how fruit can affect your sleeping patterns, rest and anxiety?

Neither had we, but it can, and these three fruits in particular all contain certain sleep-enhancing chemicals.

Tart cherry juice and grape skin are both high in melatonin, which is often in itself sold as a sleep aid, and shown to improve both sleep quality and duration. (13) Watermelon on the other hand is one of the fruits highest in tryptophan, as well as containing mood-boosting magnesium, which has a potentially profound effect on tiredness and fatigue. (14)

Biotin 

Almonds, eggs, kidney beans, tofu and mushrooms all contain biotin, but just like L-tryptophan, not in the amounts needed to see any change in sleep quality.

Biotin in itself doesn’t have a big direct impact on your sleep, but it’s a superstar when it comes to keeping your body balanced, and helps with the maintenance of your skin, hair, bones and teeth, as well as tiredness, fatigue and mental functions. (15) One big problem associated with high-dose HTP formulas is that they can cause severe headaches. While Advanced Night-Time Nutrients shouldn’t cause this, due to the fact it’s much more than just isolated HTP, biotin is added just in case, and to ensure that any users who are ultra-sensitive to HTP shouldn’t suffer from headaches or nausea.

Chamomile

This is far from a ‘secret ingredient’ as chamomile has long been recognised for its calming properties, but chamomile is still an essential component of any sleep supplement for its abilities to reduce anxiety. (16)  

L-Taurine

L-Taurine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in the brain which has a calming effect on the nervous system.

The way L-Taurine works is by activating GABA receptors, which inhibit nerve activity within the brain, aiding relaxation. (17,18) Despite having your own stores of L-Taurine within the brain, these can quickly become depleted, especially if you’re stressed, or perform regular, intense exercise. Keeping your levels regularly topped up with diet alone is extremely difficult, even if you eat taurine-containing foods such as red meat, fish and eggs.

Click here to discover more about Advanced Night-Time Nutrients.

The natural solution to a better night’s sleep?

It’s tempting to reach for generic sleeping pills, or try outdated relaxation techniques such as counting to 100, imagining you’re on a cloud, or simply trying to block all thoughts from your mind, but as we all know, these rarely work.

The trouble is, not only do these usually just make you even more stressed, and increase your worries over being awake, but they do nothing to keep you asleep once you do get there.

Your second solution is to try and get absolutely every ingredient we’ve listed here from your diet, but if you did that, you’d be searching high and low, consuming huge quantities of foods that you may not particularly like, feeling stuffed, and still falling well short of the amounts needed to have any noticeable effect.

The easier solution is to take a natural supplement that’s designed not only to help you drift off, but keep you in the land of nod until your alarm goes off the next morning so you wake up feeling completely refreshed and ready to be at your best.

Perhaps most importantly though is that each component is taken in the correct dosage, and in a blend where they work synergistically to give you the best results possible.

To find out more about this revolutionary mix of sleep aids, and how our natural sleep supplement can help you, click here.

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.