I recently started taking 4.5 mg of low-dose Naltrexone (LDN).
LDN increases the secretion of naturally occurring Endorphins.
As I posted on another thread. It reduces the time-to-sleep latency and gives me a much deeper sleep experience.
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Yes, I use 50 mg-75 mg of naltrexone to help people with cravings, so I bet it may have other long term benefits!
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Reducing cravings was something I didn’t expect. I must admit I have a strong liking, craving as it were, of a particular brand of dark chocolate truffles. My tendency is to eat far too much. I keep a supply in my cupboard. After my second dose of 4.5 mg of LDN, I realized I had not gone to the cupboard to eat any. Since then I have not had a piece of candy of any kind. Surprising that such a low dose has an effect. I don’t think it is the placebo effect, because A. I am normally a none responder and B, it wasn’t anything I expected. I am taking it for other reasons, so this was a nice surprise.
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In the last year good sleep has firmly become my longevity quest compass. Once an insomniac, I now sleep an average of over 8 hours, with a 2 hour average of deep sleep. I still wake once or twice and sometimes have a hard time getting back to sleep - but often when I have a genuine problem that I usually solve in this quiet time.
The best results for me have so far come from . . .
- Getting out in the warmth of the sun in the morning to wake up the melatonin in my mitochondria.
- NAC daily is vital for good HRV scores. This is so reliable with me that I can even judge the quality of the NAC by my over night HRV.
- Dark room, eye mask, earplugs (essential), chin strap to keep mouth closed, a wrap around velcro strap that kind of gives me a longer nose so the air coming in gets a bit more warm and humid (I learned this one from my dad who was a doctor). And if you are wondering; yes I look pretty funny!
- No caffeine at all for me even for breakfast.
- Alcohol too is now almost completely off the menu.
- Chamomile tea is surprisingly powerful, especially at helping me get back to sleep quickly after waking in the night.
- L-arginine with a half a lemon or lime squeezed in it to make it palatable.
- A squirt of witch hazel and/or rosemary in the drink above.
The last two on the list have improved my already better sleep quality dramatically recently and even made me feel (and dream) that my brain is somehow healing. L-arginine helps your body produce Nitric Oxide which recently has been discovered to be essential for sleep. Humming also increases NO and so I have been known at wakeful times in the night to hum myself a lullaby.
Witch hazel and Rosemary are two herbs I discovered when doing a deep dive on antioxidants that clean up after NO does it’s work. Often a slow learner, it took me a year or more to put the two facts above together and realise that I should try the herbs in my night drink instead of in the daytime.
The results from the first night were dramatic, where I once struggled to average an hours deep sleep a night, often only getting 15 minutes, I now average over 2 hours. My husband has had similar results. Sleeping an average of 8 hours + now instead of 6 or 7. This has finally brought his extremely high blood pressure down where previously nothing we had tried had worked for him.
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One thing which I don’t think has been adequately studied is the relationship between the sleep cycles (which I think are linked to the HPA ultradian cycle) and insomnia. My experience is that you can end up waking up during the night and then be stuck in an ultradian cycle. There is no sense trying to get back to sleep for about 80-90 minutes as the awakening response will keep you awake, but you can then return to sleep in the next cycle.
This I think is something that is more of an issue for older people as endogenous pineal melatonin goes down. I agree that mitochondrial melatonin is important, but as far as I know although pineal melatonin can supplement mitochondrial melatonin the other way round is not possible.
In any event it is important to remember that a lot of (if not all) pineal melatonin is injected directly into the cerebrospinal fluid.
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Interesting. I must admit that I do point 1 on my list more as a general tonic to feel better in the daytime, especially if I am going to the gym. I don’t know about ultradian cycles but certainly have had the experience you describe. While I rarely succeed in sleeping right through the night (maybe twice a year) I do find that Chamomile tea before bed is the only thing that helps me return to sleep reliably. My sleep latency is also still very poor. So much to learn here - I am reluctant to trying pharmacuticals to sleep better but might be persuaded 
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I would be careful about many of the sleeping pharmaceuticals. Many of them have quite bad side effects.
On the other hand ensuring that you have adequate levels of micronutrients (Magnesium) and vitamins (D and b6) has positive side effects.
Be careful with B6, if you take 100mg a day of the inactive form for a long period you will probably end up overdosing the effect of which is that it inhibits the active form and you get the symptoms of deficiency. This happened to me last year so I swapped to the active form.
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Considering adding CBD to my sleep stack. I have a friend who has gained remarkable improvement in sleep quality and quantity by adding CBD (fewer wake ups). Not committing yet, still considering. My understanding is that quality of CBD is important so I would need to find a good product (or just use the same as my friend…).
Fyi
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No. If melatonin caused dementia when taken in very large doses for many decades, then I would have dementia by now.
“But do scientists know if melatonin causes dementia?”
Hell no.
(Whereas, lack of sleep in the elderly is definitely associated with increased dementia risk.)
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I have been having really vivid dreams recently. I feel like this is a good sign since I’m usually a bit short on REM (according to Oura - although sleep stage accuracy is questionable IMO).
Sleeping really well - seem to have found some rhythm. 7.5-8hrs per night with 2 (brief) wake ups (one bathroom trip).
Currently taking 25mg trazodone, 3g glycine, 1000mg magnesium citrate.
I actually this the 25mg of trazodone is the ‘sweet spot’ for me. Sometimes more isn’t always better (which is something I have also learned with rapa).
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This article seems irresponsible to me. They consistently report that there is no evidence for a link between Melatonin and Dementia, and whenever they mention such a link they say more research is needed.
So basically there is no basis to suggest that melatonin has anything to do with dementia. Considering the poor circulation of magazines these days in general, and Discover Magazine in particular, this “article” seems like an attention grab and nothing more.
Always keep in mind Betteridge’s Law of Headlines:
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Bryan Johnson takes “low dose melatonin”: Melatonin 6 Hour Timed Release, 300 mcg, 100 vegetarian tablets - Life Extension - US
Low Dose Melatonin | High-quality sleep & cellular health - EU
I think this is the #1 supplement for sleep, at the low dosage - 0.3 mg or 300 mcg, or so.
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I thought I would update this post. I stopped taking L-arginine as I discovered that it may work against what I am doing with the Rapa. Does anyone have info about this?
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I assume this relates to things which activate mTOR. It may be, however, that if you wait for a few days after taking Rapamycin and then take l-arginine that any activation effect happens after the inhibition has stopped.
To be fair mTOR can be activated by quite a few things.
I cannot speak to the connection between arginine and rapa, but I’ve been told the arginine can cause oxidative stress if you have eNOS dysfunction, which older people tend to have. The advice regarding nitric oxide is to use citrulline instead of arginine, or to focus on the diet pathway via nitrates and oral biome conversion to nitrite.
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Fellow insomniac here, can say melatonin as others have mentioned helps a lot. Would also add magnesium and vitamin b6 greatly aid sleep especially if you are deficient in those nutrients.
A less common, OTC supplement that greatly improved my sleep is GABA. There’s some limited evidence it improves sleep, though personally I would say I experienced much greater benefits than the experimental results below
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From past experience, it is quite effective. IMO: It works by calming the mind, like a mild tranquilizer. It stops the mind from racing, which is a common complaint from those having sleep problems.
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I became aware of the oxidation issue when reading about how our brain needs NO to sleep but it also causes oxidative stress. I found a few herbs (witch hazel, and rosemary are two of the most powerful) that have been researched and found to clean up the mess made by NO in the brain. I still take them every night even without the L-arginine because I figure as long as I am sleeping my brain must be making NO. They definitely make a difference to my sleep scores and clarity.
I can’t remember what I read that put me off L-arginine. I seem to recall that in the past it was hailed as a longevity hero - but has since gone out of favour. I do remember that without lemon juice it tastes disgusting.
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