The safe dietary supplement that can help you get to sleep
‘The amino acid you’ve never heard of may help get you to the Land of Nod, even after you’ve had a few’.
Everyone struggles with getting off to sleep sometimes. The cause may be obvious or not, but one thing’s for sure: there’s nothing worse. Insomnia, loosely classified in the literature but understood clearly by those affected, is on the rise. Abnormal sleep patterns can reduce your life expectancy and increase your chances of chronic disease, including obesity.
As a registered nutritionist, I’m asked often about dietary tips to improve sleep. In fact, the most common question I face about sleep is something akin to this, ‘What can I take to help me sleep?’
I ponder human behaviour when I’m asked something like this because it reveals our favouritism for passive-type treatments. Like popping a pill, versus exercising more, eating a little earlier in the evening, improving our diets, reducing the amount of screen time after dark, getting outside more, and other crazy notions.
Research has shown these things improve sleep, but they are often less interesting to people than swigging something down. I get it.
So, what can you take?
L-ornithine is a non-essential amino acid which means we make it in our bodies in sufficient quantity and don’t have to worry about getting it from our diet. It plays many roles including the transformation of ammonia into urea, a lifesaving swap.
There’s some good human research on l-ornithine. A randomised control trial (RCT) published in the Nutrition Journal had fifty-two stressed-out otherwise healthy participants take 400mg of l-ornithine each day for eight weeks. The group reported reduced anger and better quality more restorative sleep.
What’s more, these improvements were quantified by a significant reduction in cortisol, a major stress hormone that keeps you awake if it’s high at night. It seems one mechanism of l-ornithine being effective for sleep is its proven cortisol lowering effects.
Another human study demonstrated improved sleep after heavy, physical work versus a placebo group. Further, the conclusions of another RCT, published in the BioPsychoSocial Medicine journal, were:
“Taking 400 mg ornithine after alcohol consumption improved various negative feelings and decreased the salivary stress marker cortisol the next morning.”
The participants felt less fatigued, stressed-out, angry and confused. They also reported longer and better sleep. This sounds like a hangover hack to me and may be too good to be true. So, is it?
It’s safe
The good news is that unless you have a couple of very rare genetic disorders, which you will already be aware of no doubt, then l-ornithine is safe at the recommended doses with room to spare. The first genetic disorder, called OTC deficiency, leaves those affected with very high levels of ammonia. They should avoid taking l-ornithine completely.
Second, is a disorder of the retina, called RGA. However, intermittent high doses do not pose a problem. Very high doses resulting in excess of 600 μmol/l (a blood measurement) for years at a time, might worsen the condition.
The ability of l-ornithine to increase human growth hormone (for athletic performance and recovery) had one intervention group taking 170 mg per KG of bodyweight—that’s many times more than you’ll take to help you sleep. The blood readings from this group were 570 μmol/l below what they call ‘very high’ doses’ mentioned in the study cited above.
I weigh about eighty-five kilograms, so taking 170 mg per KG would be a total of 14450 mg or 14.45 grams. The most I ever take is four grams or eight capsules (500 mg each). If I feel like I might not be able to sleep well—things buzzing around in my head or some uninvited stress—I will start by taking four capsules. If I’m still awake in half an hour I take another four. This normally sorts the problem.
If not, then it’s something else entirely and so I just try to relax and read a novel with a blue light filtered lamp. My wife weighs about 55 KG, she starts with two capsules (1000 mg) and then adds another two if the problem persists. If it’s going to work, it works quickly.
Try it
I have no doubt that positive diet and lifestyle changes will improve your sleep. However, life can get in the way and stress may keep you awake from time to time.
L-ornithine reduces the stress hormone cortisol which should naturally be low at night but can be raised by physical or mental stress—like having a late workout or an argument. The amino acid has been shown safe at doses way above those required to get you to the Land of Nod.
My personal experience with it is excellent and most of those I’ve recommended it to have reported good things. It normally works within about fifteen minutes, but it’s always hard to tell when sleep is the goal. So, talk to your doctor about trying it if you like, particularly if you think stress is responsible for your sleeplessness.
Featured Image Casey Hill Photo on Canva.
