Elsevier

Sleep Medicine

Volume 9, Issue 1, December 2007, Pages 27-32
Sleep Medicine

Original Article
Vitamins and sleep: An exploratory study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2006.12.009Get rights and content

Abstract

Study objective

We analyzed archival data from an epidemiology study to test the association between vitamin use and sleep.

Design

Random digit dialing was used to recruit 772 people ranging in age from 20 to 98 for a study of people’s sleep experience. These individuals completed a set of questionnaires about their sleep, health, and daytime functioning. Five hundred and nineteen of these participants had available vitamin use data.

Setting

Home.

Participants

Five hundred and nineteen people participated. Recruitment applied minimal screening criteria and no attempt was made to favor people with or without sleep disturbance.

Interventions

This survey included no intervention. Participants completed 2 weeks of sleep diaries and a set of questionnaires. Of particular salience to the present study, participants reported their vitamin use in listing all medications and nutritional supplements being used currently.

Measurements and results

For those individuals taking a multivitamin or multiple single vitamins, sleep diaries revealed poorer sleep compared to non-vitamin users in the number and duration of awakenings during the night. After controlling for age, ethnicity, and sex the difference in number of awakenings was still marginally significant. The rate of insomnia, conservatively defined, and consumption of sleep medication were also marginally significantly higher among individuals taking multi-/multiple vitamins compared to those not taking vitamins.

Conclusions

Disturbed sleep maintenance was associated with multi-/multiple vitamin use. Five equally plausible explanations were advanced to explain this association including vitamins cause poor sleep, poor sleepers seek vitamins, and unidentified factors promote both poor sleep and vitamin use. These data are considered preliminary. Methodological characteristics of future studies were described that hold the promise of more clearly illuminating the association between vitamins and sleep.

Introduction

One-third of the United States population takes a vitamin or mineral supplement daily [1]. The booming nutritional supplement industry is predicated on consumers’ beliefs that these products produce health enhancement. Claims for sleep improvement have been advanced for a variety of such products as typified by valerian, for which there is evidence of mild efficacy [2]. Little or weak evidence exists to support soporific claims for other nutritional supplements [3].

The majority of sleep enhancement products are classified as nutritional supplements. Minerals and vitamins have not been reported to have soporific effects, although B vitamins have been advanced as a preventive for insomnia based on research that suggests deficiencies in vitamin B6 promote psychological distress and ensuing sleep disturbance [4].

Although the direct link between vitamins and insomnia is unclear, there are studies that show an association between vitamins and other sleep disorders. Studies have reported that B-12 shortens the length of the sleep–wake rhythm [5] and affects the circadian aspect of sleep propensity [6]. Studies have also identified vitamin B complex as a helpful treatment of nocturnal leg cramps [7]. Deficiencies in iron may be related to restless leg syndrome or periodic limb movement disorder [8], both of which may have an effect on sleep maintenance. Evidence from these studies points to the possibility that sleep may be affected by vitamin and mineral intake or lack of these substances.

The presence of vitamins and other nutritional supplements has been known to have negative side effects, as well. For example, high doses of vitamin D have led to symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and depression [9]. High doses of vitamin A have been associated with bone loss [10]. The finding of both positive and negative effects associated with vitamin use invites the question: Are there sleep effects associated with vitamins? A literature search revealed no studies addressing this question. Given this research gap, we conducted a preliminary investigation to determine if sleep-promoting or sleep-inhibiting effects are associated with common vitamins.

Section snippets

Participants

The current data are from a larger epidemiological survey that utilized random-digit dialing to recruit 772 people, ranging in age from 20 to 98 years, from Shelby County, Tennessee [11]. That survey recruited at least 50 men and 50 women in each of seven age groups across the adult lifespan. The age groups were divided by decades beginning with 20–29 years and ending with the decade beginning at age 80. No upper age limit was imposed on this last decade. Information on vitamin use was collected

Results

The goal of these analyses was to explore the association between vitamins and sleep. Because this is one of the first investigations in this area, we were more concerned about minimizing Type II error than Type I error. When venturing in a new domain, it is important to be careful not to close off areas of exploration. As we were interested in detecting any association between vitamins and sleep that might exist, we used several different groupings of vitamins. In addition, we also report

Discussion

Use of a multivitamin or multiple single vitamins was associated with poorer sleep maintenance compared to individuals who did not take vitamin supplements. There was a tendency for vitamin users to have a greater number of awakenings during the night, more total wake time during the night, greater use of sleep medications, and a higher rate of insomnia than non-users. Controlling for age, gender, and ethnicity partially attenuated the sleep-vitamin association. Future research should examine

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by National Institute on Aging Grants AG12136 and AG14738.

References (19)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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