Making sure you’re getting enough Vitamin C can improve your sleep.
Too little “C” has been shown to result in poor mood and sleep.
Pay close attention if you don’t like fruits and vegetables and have trouble sleeping!
Vitamin C has several benefits for sleep that aren’t commonly known or often forgotten:
Stress and anxiety reduction
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that can help reduce levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. Lower levels of cortisol (also known as the “fight or flight hormone”) can help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. Less anxiety = better sleep.
Relaxation
Vitamin C can help promote relaxation by increasing the production of serotonin and dopamine. These are drugs that the body makes for itself. They help regulate mood and promote feelings of calmness.
“C” is also implicated in many other biochemical production processes in the body.
Immune system booster
Vitamin C plays an important role in boosting the immune system.
Q: Who can sleep well coughing and hacking throughout the night?
A: No one.
Taking the immune system up a notch can reduce the risk of an illness. When you get sick, it can be hard to sleep.
Reduces inflammation
Inflammation leads to aches and pains. Aches and pains lead to poor sleep.
The good news is that “C” has anti-inflammatory properties. Vitamin C can lessen the effects of arthritis, asthma, and other inflammatory conditions.
Helps with various sleep disorders
Vitamin C has many indirect effects on sleep. It makes sense it would be linked to the reduction in the severity of many sleep disorders.
Sometimes, however, the studies show a direct link, such as with sleep apnea.
Of course doesn’t mean taking “C” would prevent the condition.
Many who deal with sleep apena are obese. Obesity is often caused by a poor diet. A poor diet is short on vegetables and fruit. Those foods have all the “C.”
Antioxidants like Vitamin C go hand-in-hand with other ways to help one get enough sleep, like avoiding caffeine later in the day, avoiding blue-light screens before bed and keeping a regular sleep schedule. You’re not going to fix all of your sleep problems if you just take “C” and forget about the other things.
Should I take a C supplement to improve my sleep?
It depends. There are a lot of different foods that have a significant amount of Vitamin C in them. If you’re getting the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables you don’t need to.
Q: How much is enough fruits and vegetables?
A: Approximately two cups of each, not counting vegetables like corn and potatoes.
While, technically, corn and potatoes are vegetables, nutritionally, they’re known as starches.
When deciding if to take a “C” supplement, you can always choose not to take it every day, rather on the days that you weren’t able to eat healthfully, good reason or not. As a water-soluble vitamin, if you take too much “C,” you’ll simply pee it out.
Can Vitamin C be taken at night?
It doesn’t seem to amp a person up or slow you down—and that’s good because that means you can take other things into consideration when deciding when to take your “C” beside the time of the day.
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