For healthy hair, skin and nails, people often turn to the B-complex vitamin, biotin.

Long hailed as a hero vitamin in the beauty department, biotin is often overlooked for the other benefits it can bring. Insomnia and anxiety sufferers, for example, may not know that this powerful nutrient can help them too.

Anxiety and stress are a part of everyday life. While a certain level of anxiety is normal, excessive levels of anxiety can cause physical problems like high blood pressure and insomnia and lead to the development of anxiety disorders.

Nutritional supplements, like biotin, help combat the effects of excessive stress and anxiety.

How does Biotin reduce symptoms of anxiety, exactly?

Research shows that a deficiency in B-complex vitamins, including biotin, can cause sleep and anxiety problems.

By increasing your intake of biotin, anxiety and sleep issues can be reduced because biotin aids a number of functions within the body to promote overall health and well being.

We’ll focus here on the science behind how biotin can help with anxiety:

1. Enhances energy and elevates mood

Biotin enables our bodies to convert the nutrients we consume through food into fuel - it’s number one function is to efficiently metabolise carbohydrates, proteins and fats into energy. Biotin also converts fatty acids into amino acids necessary for optimal brain function.

A biotin deficiency could lead to general fatigue and a serious energy ‘slump’ leading to low mood, exacerbating anxiety. Healthy levels of biotin have the opposite effect - promoting energy and positive mood.

2. Optimises adrenal and thyroid functions

Our bodies rely on the adrenal and thyroid glands to manage the release of hormones into our bloodstream. These get exported around our body to help with various functions.

The adrenal glands’ job is to manage the stress hormone; cortisol.

Cortisol is responsible for that ‘fight or flight’ feeling associated with anxiety and worry. It causes your heart to beat faster than usual, your blood vessels to constrict and your muscles tense.

If we experience too much stress, our adrenal glands release excessive levels of cortisol into our bloodstream leading to increased feelings of anxiety.

Much like our adrenal glands, our thyroid gland also produces hormones that regulate the body's metabolic rate as well as brain development and mood.

If the thyroid gland isn’t functioning optimally, symptoms can range from fatigue, insomnia, rapid heart rate and more - all of which can promote feelings of anxiety.

Biotin is necessary for maintaining optimal adrenal and thyroid activity and for maintaining and calming the nervous system, which helps to stabilise mood, regulate sleep, and energy. It helps to reduce anxiety by regulating the adrenal and thyroid glands into a healthy function.

3. Promotes optimal brain function

Biotin assists with neurotransmitter activity, helping the nerve signals that send messages to the brain. Ever felt brain fog? Biotin, along with other members of the b-vitamin family can help to lift that whilst helping to protect your brain, improve your memory and keep a positive outlook, essential for aiding anxiety.

Deficiencies in important vitamins appear to cause anxiety symptoms - research has shown that people with a deficiency in biotin and other B vitamins, experience insomnia, increased feelings of anxiety, irritability and emotional instability.

If you’d like to find out more about biotin and anxiety for sleep, read on for our expert advice:

What causes anxiety and insomnia - why do the two go hand-in-hand?

According to the experts, it’s often hard to tell whether anxiety causes insomnia, or insomnia causes anxiety.

Sleep problems, such as the inability to fall asleep, waking in the night, or waking too early are common in people with anxiety. However, insomnia can also be the cause anxiety. If you suffer from disrupted sleep, you are more likely to develop a sleep anxiety disorder.

Whichever comes first, anxiety disorders and insomnia can have a profound effect on your life. That’s why at The Restored, we aim to provide the advice necessary to get you back into a healthy sleep routine.

How to get enough biotin: food that can reduce anxiety and insomnia

Your body can absorb biotin from your diet - foods such as egg yolks, salmon, avocado, cauliflower and raspberries are a rich source of biotin.

Our bodies continually washes away biotin through urination, so it is necessary to replenish your biotin supply often. If you take a supplement containing biotin, sleep and anxiety problems might be easier to manage as your levels of the nutrient remain constant.

Biotin: sleep aid and anxiety supplement. Is it safe?

Biotin supplements are very safe. In a trial of biotin for Multiple Sclerosis, the dosage given was ten times higher than the recommended daily dose for insomnia and anxiety. The people taking part in the study reported no adverse effects even when taking high doses of the nutrient.

You can take a supplement that contains biotin along with other ingredients that promote healthy sleep and help manage the symptoms of anxiety.

Our Advanced Night-Time Nutrients is a premium natural sleep aid that includes biotin along with other ingredients such as magnesium, chamomile, L-Taurine and 5-HTP (from Griffonia seeds) which are proven to reduce anxiety and insomnia, and have a calming effect on the brain. That’s why 97% of people would recommend our sleep aid to a friend.