What is Vitamin B Deficiency? 1-3
Vitamin B has a crucial role in keeping you healthy and safe. If you don’t absorb enough Vitamin B, your body will not have the proper amount it needs to function properly. Vitamin B deficiency can occur when this happens, which can cause muscle weakness, dizziness, forgetfulness, and discomforts like pins and needles in your hands and feet. Vitamin B deficiency is easily misdiagnosed or overlooked, but it’s usually treatable, especially if it’s diagnosed early.
What is the Relationship Between Vitamin B Deficiency and Sleep Disturbances? 4
Many of your body’s processes require Vitamin B to work optimally. This includes your body’s ability to provide you with an adequate amount of rest through sleep. Along with other vital vitamins, Vitamin B plays a role in how much sleep you get, including how restful and high-quality that sleep is.
Vitamin B6 helps your body produce hormones like serotonin and melatonin, which are essential for sleep and mood regulation. There’s a strong connection between depression and sleep problems, so ensuring you have enough Vitamin B6 in your body to produce these hormones is very important. Vitamin B12 has a role in regulating your sleep-wake cycle by helping to keep your circadian rhythms in sync. Some studies have even shown a connection between low levels of Vitamin B12 and insomnia.
Tips for Getting a Better Night’s Rest 5-7
If you have Vitamin B deficiency, you’ll likely benefit from taking a Vitamin B supplement to help with any associated sleeping difficulties. But there is so much more that you can do to help yourself get a good night’s rest. Here are some tips which you might find useful:
Adopt Healthy Habits: 67
Limit or eliminate caffeine – drinking caffeine too close to bedtime can disrupt your sleep.
Avoid nicotine – both short-term and long-term use of nicotine and/or smoking has been shown to disrupt sleep.
Don’t drink alcohol too close to bedtime – while alcohol can make you feel tired at first, it can cause you to feel awake during the second half of the night.
Exercise regularly – regular bouts of exercise can help improve your sleep. However, high-intensity exercise right before bed should be avoided.
Manage your stress – stress is associated with having difficulty falling asleep and can even make it difficult for you to stay asleep.
Set a regular sleep time – irregular sleep schedules are associated with poor sleep, so developing a schedule to help your body predict when it is supposed to sleep could be beneficial. Establishing a ritual that enables you to relax and prepares your body for bed (e.g., reading, a warm bath, etc.) is also helpful.
Avoid daytime naps – while experts still disagree on this recommendation, some research findings suggest that daytime napping can negatively affect your sleep. If you must nap, try and limit it to 1 hour and not too close to your bedtime.
Try to avoid blue light emitted from screens at least 2 hours before bed – blue lights from your TV, phone, or tablet stop your body from making the melatonin it needs to induce sleep.
Establish a Relaxing and Comfortable Sleeping Environment: 67
Reduce bedroom noise and make your bedroom as quiet as possible.
Sleep in a room that you can make as dark as possible.
Keep your bedroom temperature a little on the cooler side.
Try some relaxation techniques before bed (e.g., meditation).
Still Struggling to Sleep at Night? See a Doctor
Talk to your doctor if you’ve tried these methods and are still experiencing sleep difficulties, especially if you think your sleep issues may be due to Vitamin B deficiency. Your doctor can recommend specific measures to help you manage your Vitamin B status and target Vitamin B deficiency symptoms if you’re experiencing them. Implementing these measures will likely help you get a better night’s rest.
In Short
Do you have Vitamin B deficiency symptoms that you think could be interfering with your sleep? You can take control of your sleep and implement some handy tips to help you get a better night’s rest. Follow your doctor’s advice and eat a balanced diet that includes sources of Vitamin B. You can also take an additional Vitamin B supplement if necessary. Add to this a good sleeping environment and routine, and you’ll be nodding off before you know it.
