Glycine before bed

[hailtotheking]

Thought i'd try a few grams (1/2 tsp) of glycine before bed last night instead of my usual taurine + tryptophan. Wow! Got a really good nights sleep!

It doesnt make you feel sleepy like tryptophan does, so it wont help you actually get to sleep that much, although it definately made me feel relaxed. However, once i did get to sleep, i was out for about 7.5 hours straight, which i havent done in a LOOONG time, and i awoke without any of the grogginess that tryptophan can sometimes give me.

[Ripped Barbarian]

Why?

[Gareth83]

perhaps you need to cycle taurine and tryptophan?

I don't think glycine is useful as a sleep aid?

[Ripped Barbarian]

I didn't think it would work as a sleep aid....

I know it's a neurotransmitter, does it work in a similar way to taurine?
Does it have some sort of anti insulinogenic /blood glucose modifying effect?

[Gareth83]

Quote

Abstract:

In human volunteers who have been continuously experiencing unsatisfactory sleep, effects of glycine ingestion (3 g) before bedtime on subjective sleep quality were investigated, and changes in polysomnography (PSG) during sleep were analyzed. Effects on daytime sleepiness and daytime cognitive function were also evaluated. Glycine improved subjective sleep quality and sleep efficacy (sleep time/in-bed time), and shortened PSG latency both to sleep onset and to slow wave sleep without changes in the sleep architecture. Glycine lessened daytime sleepiness and improved performance of memory recognition tasks. Thus, a bolus ingestion of glycine before bedtime seems to produce subjective and objective improvement of the sleep quality in a different way than traditional hypnotic drugs such as benzodiazepines.

IngentaConnect Glycine ingestion improves subjective sleep quality in human volu...

never thought of glycine as a sleep aid. I've only used it as a gluconeogenic agent, Interesting ay!

there seems to be tonns of other studies with similar findings!

[daffy]

Perhaps through this mechanism ...

Quote

ScienceDaily (Mar. 28, 2008) — There is new promise on the horizon for those who suffer from REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder (RBD) according to researchers at the University of Toronto.

RDB, a neurological disorder that causes violent twitches and muscle contractions during rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep, can lead to serious injuries. John Peever, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, discovered that an inhibitory brain chemical called glycine is responsible for actively suppressing muscle twitches in REM sleep.

Deficiency in glycine levels in the brain cells that control muscles (motoneurons) was found to cause the violent muscle contractions that mimic the primary symptom of RBD.

"This study shows the mechanism that suppresses muscles twitches in REM sleep and this will lead to better treatments and potential cures for this disorder," says Peever. "Treating REM sleep disorder may have much broader implications, since within five to eight years of being diagnosed with this disorder, 60-80% of individuals eventually develop Parkinson's disease."

The study findings are published in the March 26th edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.

The text in bold is somewhat interesting - avoiding parkinsons would be reason enough to supplement with glycine all the time, let alone improving sleep.

[Amritos]

Maybe the good night's sleep was a mere cooincidence from a hard day/ hard training/ almost end of the week?

[mxd]

If I take 5gms fish oils directly pre bed I have an excellent nites sleep and I wake up very refreshed

[Gareth83]

Quote

If I take 5gms fish oils directly pre bed I have an excellent nites sleep and I wake up very refreshed

I've read to avoid fish oils or eggs pre-bed as it stimulates brain activity...

[Amritos]

Shot or two of Johnnie Walker and I'm on the clouds in no time

(On a serious note, taurine really has worked for me in the past 2 years with sleep, especially if I take it for about 4 days on (weekdays) and 3 off (weekends)).