Metagenics - MetaSleep

Product Notes:

MetaSleep Helps Reset Your Body's Sleep/Wake Cycle

Why Use a Time-Released Melatonin?

Melatonin is probably the best known and widely used sleep aid supplement, since it's something our own bodies produce for that purpose, but less so as we age, and it has a very good safety profile (with the main, but very infrequent, adverse effects being headache and dizziness).

Of course, in this context (it also appears to have other roles in the body, as well), melatonin is not a sedative, strictly speaking. Rather, it's part of a signalling system to regulate our circadian rhythms, particularly the sleep cycle. (It triggers other neurotransmitters and systems to do things like lower our body temperature.)

We don't produce it in large amounts (possibly just 50 mcg over the course of a night!), so we don't need much even if we're deficient, though our own gets used far more efficiently than supplementary versions (which may be only about 15% 'bioavailable', such that a 1 mg dose might only provide the equivalent of 150 mg of melatonin in your bloodstream once it gets digested).

Moreover, it doesn't get stored: our bodies must "use it or lose it" when it's circulating (if it doesn't get taken up by the receptors for it, we just pee the rest out). And it certainly doesn't get all used at once, naturally: its production in our pineal gland gets activated by the initial absence of bright light at dusk (or at lights out), reaches a peak a few hours later, and then tapers off over the next few hours or so.

Research indicates that's because it not only signals when to go to sleep, but also cues the body to stay asleep, and may also have a role in directing which type of sleep we should be having over the course of the night, thanks to the differential response of at least two different types of receptors we have for it: REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and non-REM (NREM).

Consequently, Metagenics MetaSleep has been formulated with a special dual-phase form of melatonin to emulate that natural cycle. Rather than having it all hit you once, leaving you tossing and turning again a few hours later when it wears off, it's made with time-release technology to enable your body to absorbs about half of it in the first hour and the rest gradually over the next 5 or 6 hours, to support a healthy sleep pattern.

Of course, the resulting gains in how quickly you actually get to sleep may be relatively modest in those with relatively normal schedules and sleep/wake cycles, but for young adults with "delayed sleep phase syndrome" (where it may routinely take you as long as two hours to get to sleep and you find it very hard to get up on time), a recent study found it reduced time time to get to sleep by an average of 34 minutes.

Shift workers might experience similar results. Similarly, if you're someone who often has to get up in the middle of the night to pee, it would likely help to have some fresh melatonin continuing to be released in your system to make it easier to fall back asleep, after.

Why Include Kava?

For some people, one of the things preventing an enduring restful sleep is stressful dreams, which can sometimes also induce leg or feet cramps from a 'fight or flight' response. Kava (also called Kava Kava) is a plant that grows in South Pacific islands whose roots have "anxiolytic" properties: they relieve stress and anxiety, and promote relaxation, at least in part by enhancing the effects of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), a neurotransmitter which calms down the central nervous system.

This version has been standardized to provide consistent amounts of its most active ingredients, kavalactones - compounds that a new study found could make hard-driving prospective soldiers work even harder in their physical training.