If you have trouble sleeping, then it’s safe to say you probably have insomnia. Simply defined, insomnia is a sleep disorder in which the person suffering from it is unable to fall asleep or stay asleep at night. Insomnia may be accompanied by fatigue and mental impairment during the day. It is also usually a symptom of an underlying medical condition, including, but not necessarily, a psychiatric disorder.
What is Insomnia?
Insomnia could last for a week (transient), a month (acute) or it could last for months and even years (chronic). Transient insomnia may be a result of environmental changes of the afflicted individual and is resolved when the person experiencing it adapts to such changes. Acute insomnia is a result of stress and those who suffer from it usually have sufficient time to sleep but have a hard time initiating or maintaining it.
Chronic insomnia on the other hand has accompanying symptoms such as physical and mental fatigue caused by high stress levels or underlying conditions of medical or psychiatric origin, including hallucinations and double visions. It is directly linked to restless leg syndrome (RLS), hyperthyroidism, and rheumatoidarthritis.
Additionally, insomnia may also be caused by factors other than the three mentioned conditions. These causes include:
- Ongoing noise/s heard by the person trying to sleep.
- Withdrawal from antidepressant such as opioids and benzodiazepines.
- Engaging in psychoactive or recreational drugs.
- Taking fluoroquinolone antibiotics.
- Excessive caffeine and nicotine consumption.
- Sedative abuse that causes rebound insomnia.
- Acute and chronic pain.
- Frequent jet lags.
- Magnesium deficiency in the diet.
- Strenuous physical activities such as intensive workouts.
- Hormonal fluctuations related to menopause and menstrual cycles.
- Working on night shifts.
Different methods are available for the treatment of insomnia. One of the most effective is the use of 5-HTP supplements. 5 HTP for sleep disorders like insomnia comes from the extracted seeds of the West African indigenous plant known as griffonia simplicifolia. 5-HTP moves easily across the so-called “blood-brain barrier” or BBB to reach the central nervous system.
Once it reaches the central nervous system, 5-HTP is converted into 5HT or what is more commonly referred to as serotonin. This is, however, not the only treatment that can affect the central nervous system and treat insomnia. There are also antihistamines, opioids, antidepressants, benzodiazepines, antipsychotics, and other similarly-purposed sedatives. But then again, long term use of these medications is not advisable.
Because all of its effects are the result of its ability to increase the body’s serotonin levels, 5-HTP can be used as a treatment for insomnia to improve sleep quality. The efficacy of 5-HTP as a sleep aid, however, has been challenged by melatonin, a neuro-hormone that the brain’s pineal gland releases.
Melatonin plays a significant role in the circadian cycle that regulates sleep.
Low levels of melatonin cause sleep-onset bouts of insomnia. Melatonin levels determine when we sleep and when we stay awake. It is released by the pineal gland – which responds to changes in dark and light conditions — only during those times when light level is low, like at night, and signals the brain to shut down its production as soon as there is presence of light.
Melatonin VS 5-HTP
Like 5-HTP, melatonin production starts with tryptophan’s conversion to 5-HTP and 5-HTP’s conversion to serotonin. Melatonin is released into the bloodstream from the brain’s pineal gland when evening sets in. Unlike 5-HTP, however, melatonin has no ability to cross the blood-brain barrier or BBB. This is 5-HTP’s primary advantage over melatonin.
5-HTP can bypass the light-regulation mechanism of the brain which controls melatonin secretion, resulting in increased production of neurotransmitters like serotonin as well as norepinephrine which stimulate the brain’s noradrenergic receptors. This stimulation is a direct trigger for melatonin production and release. Simply put, taking 5-HTP causes melatonin’s release.
This release occurs irrespective and regardless of how much of the environment’s brightness is present. The more melanin that circulates, the better your chances of falling asleep and staying asleep become. Those with low levels of melatonin should take 5-HTP to get more benefits of increased levels of serotonin since taking melatonin alone doesn’t do anything for serotonin.
And the Winner Is…
5-HTP can provide better benefits than melatonin for insomniacs, mainly because insomnia is, more often than not, a symptom of other underlying psychiatric or medical conditions that melatonin is unable to treat well. Additionally, melatonin can only regulate the onset of sleep, not its duration. On the other hand, 5-HTP promotes deep, restful sleep and blocks any sleepy disturbance or disruption.
This means 5-HTP is able to provide sleep that is more restful without necessarily prolonging the time length of sleep. It can also reproduce most of melatonin’s effects when it gets converted into serotonin. It’s a win-win situation for 5-HTP as is gains all of serotonin’s sleep-promoting effects and all of melatonin’s when it is synthesized.
Another great thing about the 5-HTP works is that the body can use it to produce melatonin without being dependent on the periodic shift of night and day for the pineal gland’s secretion of melatonin. For those who have experienced the benefits of 5 HTP for insomnia reviews have only good things to say about it. Most users have noted how 5-HTP is so much better than melatonin.
Recommended 5-HTP dosage for sleep disorders is 50mg initially, taken half an hour before bedtime on an otherwise empty stomach, to allow it passage past the BBB and be directly absorbed into your brain. If nothing happens it is a typical response to a low dose. Add 50mg every night until you reach the 300mg or you drop off to sleep 30 minutes after taking it.
The 5-HTP dosage for insomnia may be taken between 100mg and 300mg half an hour to 45 minutes before bedtime. But remember to always start with the lowest dose for three or four days before increasing the dosage. If nothing happens after you have increased the dosage, perhaps you may have other underlying conditions that have nothing to do with insomnia or other sleep disorders.