Getting Your Best Sleep with L-Tryptophan
Not again. You’re worn out from a long and busy day, but try as you might, you just can’t drift off into that restful sleep you so desperately need. Tossing and turning, you begin to ask yourself “Why can’t I just fall asleep?”
About 30% of the population report regularly having difficulty getting a good night’s sleep.1 Those kinds of experiences can affect not only your quality of rest, but your overall health as well.2 Fortunately, there’s a natural sleep aid available that can help you experience your best sleep without habit-forming chemicals or a price tag that gives you nightmares—L-Tryptophan .
Experts now recommend adding a natural sleep aid to your bedtime routine3 such as melatonin or L-tryptophan. As a natural amino acid, L-tryptophan is not only a healthy option, but it’s also recognized as one of the best sleep aids for those wanting a good night’s rest. And making sure you have enough of it can have widespread impacts on your overall wellness. In fact, research has found that tryptophan depletion may negatively impact mood and cognition. Lack of sleep and stress have been shown to negatively impact the body's immune function. Supplementing with l-tryptophan for sleep support goes beyond sleep itself and has potential to support general wellbeing.
What is L-tryptophan?
L-tryptophan is an essential amino acid that the body is unable to produce on its own.4 L-tryptophan’s responsibility in the body is to activate pathways that increase the chemicals necessary for the whole body to get a refreshing night of sleep and to promote normal cognitive function. For example, your body needs L-tryptophan to create serotonin, about 90% of which is located in the body’s GI tract. Serotonin is the hormone used by the brain to regulate your mood and sleep patterns.5 In this way, serotonin is one of the best natural sleep aids used by the body, and L-tryptophan is the essential tool used to produce it in the brain.
Tryptophan also plays a role in supporting the production of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and NAD phosphate (NADP), which are nonprotein compounds that assist in the processes that provide energy for cells.
How Can I Be Sure That I Have Enough L-Tryptophan for Better Sleep?
While it’s possible to find L-tryptophan in foods like poultry, red meat, eggs, or even dairy,6 some diet restrictions preclude these items. It’s also difficult to be sure you’re regularly consuming the necessary amount of L-tryptophan based on diet alone.
Thankfully, this natural sleep aid is readily available as a supplement, meaning you can enjoy the benefits of L-tryptophan without worrying about dietary changes or inconsistent dosage.
Nature's Way to a Better Night's Sleep
When it comes to finding the best sleep aid, L-tryptophan certainly rates among the top choices available on the market. Today’s health-conscious shopper is looking for something natural to aid their sleep patterns, and with the large number of scientific studies and trials7 demonstrating L-tryptophan’s effects on getting a good night’s sleep, this essential amino acid is more than just a sleep aid—it’s a supplement beneficial to your overall health.
In the past, you might have had to down glasses of warm milk or stuffed yourself with turkey legs in order to gain the beneficial effect of L-tryptophan, but these days it’s possible to enjoy the benefits without all the effort simply by supplementing your diet.
Taking a regular dose from a trusted source is crucial to your quality of sleep,3 and that’s what you can expect from L-tryptophan.
Always serving our customers,
Your friends at Swanson
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Sources
1. Insomnia: Definition, Prevalence, Etiology, and Consequences. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Read source
2. Sleep Disorders. Mayo Clinic. Read source
3. Natural sleep aids: home remedies to help you sleep. Johns Hopkins Medicine. Read source
4. Tryptophan. Association for the Advancement of Restorative Medicine. Read source
5. Serotonin: what you need to know. Healthline. Read source
6. L-tryptophan. Web MD. Read source
7. Tryptophan. National Library of Medicine. Read source
