Serotonin?

[ladylee]

So I've been trying to get to the bottom of my sleep problems (I experience night-waking that totally rivals my daughter's,) and I've been looking into the possibility that my serotonin levels are depleted. Which would also explain my occasional grumpiness, according to what I've read.

I found a product called 5-HTP--does anyone take this? Or know anything about taking supplemental tryptophan/serotonin? The opinions I've found vary...

[Inwe Surion]

I use 5HTP for weight loss. I have heard of people using it for depression, but not for sleep issues. It doesn't do anything for me as far sleep.

I think, and someone can correct me if I am wrong, that the 5HTP is a different form of tryptophan than what we usually associate with sleep help.

[EnviroBecca]

You can increase your serotonin levels by altering your diet. I know there are some books on this but can't think of any titles.... The basic idea is to eat plenty of COMPLEX carbs (like rice and potatoes, instead of simple carbs like white bread and sugar) and especially in combination with fish or poultry. If you don't eat meat, I'm sure there are some vegetarian sources of the same proteins or amino acids or whatever is the crucial thing.

Sorry to be so vague, but I wanted to get the idea of dietary factors out there!

[ladylee]

Clancysmum-thanks for the input. I'll have to investigate further--this is not necessarily to put me to sleep but to regulate sleep--and the bottle I have seen mentions same.

EnviroBecca--yes, I'm also looking into dietary adjustments. It's a challenge to put myself back into balance with all of these changes. Thanks for mentioning it.

[mom at home]

My sister's partner who is a doc with a specialty in nutritional biochemistry and who is also very knowledgeable about alternative medicine suggested that 5-HTP would be a good thing to take to boost serotonin levels. When I was trying to decide whether to take an antidepressant he suggested trying the 5HTP first and said it is just a milder affect than an SSRI. I ended up taking the SSRI, but had I not I probably would've tried the HTP. I don't know the affect on sleep.

Alison