New Anti-Energy Drinks May Help you Sleep; Use May Result in an Overdose of Sleep Promoting Hormones

New melatonin-based beverages receive mixed reviews, according to the New York Daily News. They may help you sleep, but they also overload your body with hormones.

Many people who struggle to get the sleep they need look for a “quick-fix”. To them, these drinks may seem like a miracle cure.

But are they safe?

According to the article, these beverages contain between 20 to 50 times more melatonin than the amount that is naturally found in the body.

AASM member Dr. Charles Czeisler reminds consumers that melatonin is a hormone. Czeisler said, “"[Hormones] should not be put in beverages, since the amount people drink often depends on thirst and taste rather than being taken only when needed like any other drug."

While no serious side effects have been linked with the use of melatonin, these drinks should still be used with caution. Long-term effects remain unknown.

Consult a board-certified sleep expert at an AASM-accredited sleep center if you are suffering from an ongoing sleep problems.

Insomnia and Weight Gain

A new study examined the link between insomnia and weight gain.

The study involved 14 men with primary insomnia and 24 healthy controls. It measured their levels of the “hunger hormones” leptin and ghrelin three times during one night of sleep.

Results show that men with insomnia had less total sleep time than controls. Leptin levels were similar between the two groups. Leptin helps to suppress your appetite and increase your metabolism.

But ghrelin levels were about 30 percent lower in men with insomnia. Ghrelin stimulates appetite.

So it would seem that insomnia lowers your risk of weight gain. Less ghrelin means you would be less hungry.

But this may not be the case. Lead author Sarosh Motivala of UCLA thinks that a change may occur during the day to increase appetite. Other studies show that sleep loss decreases leptin and increases ghrelin.

What is clear is that insomnia disrupts how the body regulates appetite.

"The current study shows that insomnia patients have a dysregulation in energy balance that could explain why these patients gain weight over time," Motivala said in a UCLA statement. “"This is an exciting finding because it highlights how diverse behaviors like sleep and eating are connected.”

Most people with insomnia have “secondary” insomnia. It occurs along with another medical problem, mental illness or sleep disorder. It also may result from the use of a medication or substance.

The men in this study had “primary insomnia.” This kind of insomnia is unrelated to another health problem. It is estimated that about 25 percent of people with insomnia have primary insomnia.

A 2008 study in the journal Sleep linked primary insomnia to low levels of a brain chemical. Results show that GABA levels are reduced by 30 percent in adults with chronic primary insomnia.

Learn more about the link between sleep and weight.

Who Sleeps Better – Women or Men?

A new study takes an objective look at the sleep of 1,324 men and women. Who were the better sleepers?

In this case it was the women. During one night in a sleep lab they had a higher percentage of sleep time than the men. They also had a higher percentage of deep, slow wave sleep.

Another part of the study involved 66 young, healthy volunteers. An “external stressor” disturbed their sleep during the night to see how they responded.

Again the women slept better than the men. Their sleep was less disturbed.

“Young women are superior to men in terms of sleep mechanisms,” Dr. Alexandros Vgontzas told the Sleep Education Blog. He and his team conducted the research at the Penn State College of Medicine.

But it is important to note that the women in this study had no sleep complaints. Many women have ongoing sleep problems that can prevent them from sleeping well.

Examples include restless legs syndrome and leg cramps. And women are more likely than men to have insomnia.

“Women indeed have more insomnia complaints than men,” said Vgontzas. “This is primarily because they suffer from depression more frequently.”

Vgontzas added that female hormones can play a protective role in helping young women sleep well. But women can lose this advantage when hormonal changes occur as they age.

In the study menopause was associated with a decrease in deep sleep. It also took more time for menopausal women to fall asleep.

Learn more from the AASM about sleep and women.