B Vitamins affecting sleep

[Nakamova]

A recent NY Times article suggests that some multivitamins, particularly B6 and B12 may slightly affect sleep, depending on when they are taken:

After controlling for age, sex and other variables, the scientists found a slightly higher rate of poor or interrupted sleep in people taking multivitamins. But because they found only an association, they could not rule out the possibility that people with poorer sleep are simply more likely to seek out multivitamins.

If there is an effect, the problem is separating the effects of individual vitamins. There is some evidence that B vitamins may play a role. Some studies have shown that ingesting vitamin B6 before bed can lead to very vivid dreaming, which can wake people up. B6 helps the body convert tryptophan to serotonin, a hormone that affects sleep. Other studies have shown that vitamin B12 can affect melatonin levels, promoting wakefulness.

For those who suspect their multivitamins may be curtailing sleep, the best solution may simply be to take the pills in the morning, or at least several hours before bed.

Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/he...tml?ref=health

[epileric]

Great article Nak. Of course the only vitamine I take before bed is B12, the one that is thought to promote wakefulness. That might explain something

[RobinN]

When Rebecca was taking this, it was recommended that she take them in the AM or they would have an effect on sleep.

[momof3boys]

I take my B Complex and Calcium Vitamins in the morning when I wake up.
I dont see going to the sleep a problem with me. Im actually very tired when it comes to bed time.

[ColmanMac]

Some Japanese vitamin based supplements I take re karate have the same effect as "O-D ing" on caffeine - Don't know if it's relevant/relative
Col

[epileric]

Some Japanese vitamin based supplements I take re karate have the same effect as "O-D ing" on caffeine - Don't know if it's relevant/relative
Col

I'd be very curious to know what that supplement is Col.

[Andrew]

If this was the case, I should be awake all night as I need to take my B vitamins morning and night, every day, to control my EXTREMELY RARE type of seizures (many different types). I have been using a high dose of vitamin B6 for nearly 40 years and a multi B complex tablet (which contains all eight B vitamins) for approx. 20 years. No anti-epileptic Drugs, special diets or extra minerals. I can back the vivid dreaming up. These sometimes used to keep me awake as a young child, the odd nightmare, but I soon learned to take control of them - I have solved problems in my dreams (used my vivid dreaming to my advantage).

Here is a thread that I started over at the Braintalk communities:

http://braintalkcommunities.org/foru...ad.php?t=36549

**DO NOT ALTER ANY MEDICATION WITHOUT YOUR DOCTOR'S CONSENT**

Andy

[epileric]

I found the abstract (summary) of the study mentioned in the NY Times and I don't think the study is very relevant for many reason.

1) There is no Control group to determine what is "normal" as there should be in all studies.

2) The subjects were given placebo & B12 at different times which means that whatever happens isn't clearly the effect of the B12, the psychosomatic effect of the placebo or something unrelated.

3) The study group was only 9 people. Having such a small lacks accuracy & precision. Imagine if 1 person in the study got an unusual reaction like a rash. To use this study they could say that over 10% (11.11%) of people got a rash when that isn't necessarily true.

4) There was no mention of documenting anything else the subjects might have done or ingested (such as protein) that can effect sleep.

And This is just from reading the first paragraph!
It doesn't mean that B vitamines don't effect sleep but I don't feel this study proves it one way or another. I usually expect better reporting from the NY Times.