Supplementing with serotonin precursors like 5-HTP or tryptophan in the evening can disrupt sleep architecture. — Whalespan
Supplementing with serotonin precursors like 5-HTP or tryptophan in the evening can disrupt sleep architecture.
⚠ High risk
We can't find evidence that holds up here. Proponents are reasoning from mechanism or analogy rather than direct human data, and the most credible skeptics raise objections we can't dismiss.
✕NOTSUPPORTED
⚠
High-risk intervention — consult a physician before acting.Drug-drug interactions, dose-dependence, and screening contraindications apply.
“5-HTP supplements can of course increase 5-HTP. It is 5-HTP or serotonin but that sometimes can create problems in endogenous or self-made production of serotonin. So I'm never a fan of taking things very close to the chemical you're trying to increase for very long periods of time. Maybe for occasional use. I have the problem that if I take serotonin supplements, 5-HTP, I fall asleep. The sleep I have is very intense and I wake up three or four hours later. And we know based on sleep studies with good measurements in the lab that serotonin release tends to be in the later part of the night. And so by taking it early in the night it really can disrupt the pattern of sleep in the depth of sleep.”
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“And indeed you can, however, many people including myself, find that when they supplement with serotonin in the evening or at night, that can cause problems in the architecture or the structure of sleep. It can cause a lot of people, including me, to fall asleep very fast, sleep very deeply for three or four hours, and then wake up and have a terrible time falling back asleep.”
“However, many people, including myself, find that when they supplement with serotonin in the evening or at night that can cause problems in the architecture or the structure of sleep can cause a lot of people, including me, to fall asleep very fast, sleep very deeply for three or four hours, and then wake up and have a terrible time falling back asleep.”