Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality • Hacker News Board

Re: Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality

#101

Post by scrapcode » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

JonathanFly wrote: post #41

tylerwhipple wrote: post #33

If anyone is struggling with sleep, I highly recommend episode 1-3 of the Huberman Lab podcast ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-XfCl-HpRM ), it has literally changed my life. Dr. Huberman is a Neurobiologist at Stanford and explains the science of sleep vs just telling you to not look at bright screens at night. I struggled with sleeping for 20+ years, now I easily wake up early. The biggest game changer: Sunlight…

>The biggest game changer: Sunlight in your eyes within 30 minutes of waking up. Try morning walks for 1 week (without sunglasses) and your life will be changed. For me I had to also really avoid light at night. F.lux or Windows Night Mode is not enough. You gotta suffer with strong indoor lightblocker glasses, or use e-ink or something at night. And in the winter there sometimes isn't enough sun. You need a LOT of l…

I worked some pretty grueling swinging shift work as a Stationary Engineer in a high pressure steam boiler plant for a couple of years. I bought a "bright light therapy" lamp and it seemed to make a difference for a while, but I was never able to make it's usage a sustainable habit. Just throwing its existence out there in case it could be helpful to someone.

Re: Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality

#102

Post by bagacrap » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 2:53 PM UTC

tylerwhipple wrote: post #33

If anyone is struggling with sleep, I highly recommend episode 1-3 of the Huberman Lab podcast ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-XfCl-HpRM ), it has literally changed my life. Dr. Huberman is a Neurobiologist at Stanford and explains the science of sleep vs just telling you to not look at bright screens at night. I struggled with sleeping for 20+ years, now I easily wake up early. The biggest game changer: Sunlight…

Sunlight in your eyes that early isn't very easy during winter months when the sun may not come up till 8 or later.

However I can confirm that sunlight in the eyes is a great way to stay awake during long road trips (ie sunglasses can make me drowsy).

Re: Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality

#103

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 2:57 PM UTC

FrankyHollywood wrote: post #56

I needed better sleeping and tried various things. In the end I stopped drinking coffee and tea. For me its now just hot or cold water, sometimes a herbal tea, and an occasional beer or orange juice. First caffeine-free weekend I had terrible headaches, than came weeks of strong urges (I felt I was an addict). In these weeks I just fell asleep on the couch or even at my desk at work. I slept a lot these weeks, during…

Another anecdote: whenever I go off coffee I just feel a bit more dumb, and I don't like losing an easy mechanism to quickly boost my energy levels.

The first few weeks without caffeine are rough, then I just turn into a more boring version of myself: I go to bed early, have consistent energy levels throughout the day, and I'm a little less intelligent.

I don't really want my energy levels smoothed out throughout the day: getting out of the gate quickly in the morning and getting ahead of my goals for the day is far more important to me, and having a few hours each day where I'm really "on" is better than my brain being a little sluggish forever.

I don't personally have issues sleeping through the night though. (But with caffeine I do shift my sleep a bit later).

Cutting caffeine does seem to be a reasonable place to start for people who are having sleep issues, or anxiety, but for me I've decided the pros vastly outweigh the cons.

Re: Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality

#104

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 3:03 PM UTC

bagacrap wrote: post #102

tylerwhipple wrote: post #33

If anyone is struggling with sleep, I highly recommend episode 1-3 of the Huberman Lab podcast ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-XfCl-HpRM ), it has literally changed my life. Dr. Huberman is a Neurobiologist at Stanford and explains the science of sleep vs just telling you to not look at bright screens at night. I struggled with sleeping for 20+ years, now I easily wake up early. The biggest game changer: Sunlight…

Sunlight in your eyes that early isn't very easy during winter months when the sun may not come up till 8 or later. However I can confirm that sunlight in the eyes is a great way to stay awake during long road trips (ie sunglasses can make me drowsy).

Even now. I've been awake since 5, it's now 9 am and we're just getting to the point where I would consider it day time. And that's 3 months away from the darkest day of the year. Changing to standard time changes a bit for a bit, but up here in Canada we go to work and come home in the dark.

Re: Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality

#105

Post by omarhaneef » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 3:04 PM UTC

Can anyone find the effect size in this study? When it is missing, I suspect that it is small, and that in turn leads me to suspect p-hacking.

Re: Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality

#106

Post by brainwipe » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 3:16 PM UTC

chartpath wrote: post #79

brainwipe wrote: post #26

Being a blue-skinned ginger, I just need to have someone describe sunlight to me and I start producing Vit D. I also sleep like the dead.

Thanks for the chuckle. Same here but mostly brown hair except red in the beard. I suspect it's not limited to red haired folks but that the gene occurs in people with relatively northern ancestors (Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia). IIRC there were lots of red haired people in the continental Celtic population too. Would they have the same adaptation for less need of sunlight? Also makes me wonder how the Inuit manage…

My ancestors are all Scottish or Celtic going back as far as the point where people didn't move around much.

I've heard red-beards often referred to politely as gingerchins. Which is oddly fun to say.

Having worked for Scandinavian insurance companies, I can tell you that life insurance near to the arctic circle is much higher as people find it hard living without lots of light.

Re: Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality

#107

Post by jbotz » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 3:25 PM UTC

stooliepidgin wrote: post #3

My vitamin D level is only optimal when taking an average of 11000 IU / day (D3 + K2). It hasn't improved my sleep quality. As an example, I woke up at 3:30 am this morning and feel like I haven't slept at all.

Try taking a good magnesium supplement. It should be a chelate (for example magnesium glycinate), and depending on your diet somewhere around 2000mg/day of that (chelates are only about 8-15% elemental magnesium). Avoid magnesium oxide (which is what is in a lot of multi-vitamins), it's very poorly absorbed.

Most people are noticeable calmer and sleep better when they start supplementing magnesium. Magnesium deficiency is extremely common, and even if you eat a really good diet with lots of whole grains and vegetables you might not be getting quite enough (but in that case about half the above dose may be enough to top you off). Anyway, it won't hurt to try and it's not expensive... if it helps, the cost-benefit is huge.

Re: Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality

#108

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 3:28 PM UTC

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #103

FrankyHollywood wrote: post #56

I needed better sleeping and tried various things. In the end I stopped drinking coffee and tea. For me its now just hot or cold water, sometimes a herbal tea, and an occasional beer or orange juice. First caffeine-free weekend I had terrible headaches, than came weeks of strong urges (I felt I was an addict). In these weeks I just fell asleep on the couch or even at my desk at work. I slept a lot these weeks, during…

Another anecdote: whenever I go off coffee I just feel a bit more dumb, and I don't like losing an easy mechanism to quickly boost my energy levels. The first few weeks without caffeine are rough, then I just turn into a more boring version of myself: I go to bed early, have consistent energy levels throughout the day, and I'm a little less intelligent. I don't really want my energy levels smoothed out throughout the…

[deleted]

Re: Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality

#109

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 3:28 PM UTC

pibechorro wrote: post #22

Wake up at sunrise, go to bed at sunset. Anything else is going to cause problems.. or you are simply a night owl, which is ok. The key is to go outside, get some natural light and sun on your skin. Most of us reading this are vitamin D deficient year after year. Covid has had an advantage on anyone lacking proper vitamin levels.

On Dec 22nd the sun rises where I am at 8:49 AM and sets at 4:17 PM. On June 22nd that's 5:05 AM and 10:07 PM. It's just not feasible.

Re: Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality

#110

Post by jbotz » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 3:29 PM UTC

rojeee wrote: post #95

stooliepidgin wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would someone control their cortisol levels? Maslow's hierarchy of needs, medical/pharma interventions, and/or something else?

More aerobic exercise, less anerobic exercise, more meditation, etc.

Magnesium helps with that as well [1] (see my comment above in this thread). In general, magnesium is involved in lots of biological processes, but especially those involving hormones.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33030273/