Can Collagen Improve Your Sleep?

Catching z’s and getting our beauty rest is a necessity, and most of us don’t get enough of it. Not getting enough sleep has a huge impact on the human body – from weight gain to weakened immune systems, not getting good quality sleep has harmful consequences on our health and energy levels. There are things we can do to improve our sleep, and collagen might be one of them… 

As it turns out, collagen’s superpowers go beyond beauty. To experience one of its most surprising benefits, you should seriously consider adding collagen consumption to the end of your daily wellness to-do list. A surprising benefit of taking collagen is the positive impact it can have on your sleep. This is because collagen is loaded with the amino acid glycine, an inhibitory neurotransmitter that calms the central nervous system and helps us to unwind, relax, and fall asleep.

The Benefits of Collagen for Sleep

Since ancient times humans have consumed more collagen than we do now, and it’s been an important source of nutrition. But modern food processing has removed collagen from our diets, so supplementing with Correxiko vital Marine Collagen protein is important to regenerate our bodies for a fuller, active life.

Collagen is an essential protein that has countless benefits. It helps us have healthy hair, nails, and skin. It even helps maintain and strengthen our connective tissues and joints. Crucial collagen health benefits include blood sugar control, sleep, glowing skin, joint health, longevity, and well-being. This vital protein goes to work when you’re getting that much needed sleep. In fact, while you’re getting your rest, collagen can perform in the overnight hours by providing the building blocks for the following:

• Muscle repair
• Joint and bone renewal
• Skin rejuvenation
• Reduce the visibility of aging and scars
• Encourage strong nails
• Increased hair growth
• Promote gut health & digestion
• Help maintain ligament and cartilage health

Collagen is exceptionally rich in the amino acid glycine, which helps to support an array of functions. This is one of the 21 amino acids your body needs to achieve peak performance levels. Current research recommends about 3 grams of glycine (found in 15g of collagen) be consumed about one hour before going to bed. Typically, people will experience that it is easier to fall asleep and to have a deeper sleep. This in turn helps lessen daytime sleepiness and improves performance of memory recognition tasks.

Studies have shown glycine to improve sleep quality and leads to a natural sleep pattern, with an early appearance of slow-wave sleep (SWS) and maintenance of REM sleep. SWS is thought to be the most “restorative” sleep stage. This would provide an individual experiencing unsatisfactory sleep, the means to restore a good night’s sleep.

The main functions of glycine in our bodies are:

• Aids in the digestion of foods
• Helps product energy for the muscles and brain
• Aids in regulating blood sugar
• Helps your body make the hormone serotonin that aids in mood and sleep functionality

Glycine decreases core body temperature and possibly inhibits muscle activity during REM sleep. Your body temperature naturally drops as bedtime approaches and continues to drop throughout sleep. Glycine increases serotonin levels without increasing dopamine levels. Amongst other things, this helps maintain healthy circadian rhythms leading to better sleep.

Additionally, glycine assists in the creation of serotonin, a hormone that has a large effect on our sleep and moods. Our bodies need serotonin for making the sleep hormone melatonin which helps your body know when it’s time to sleep and wake up. If serotonin becomes depleted, the rhythmic neural activity in the brain (known as circadian rhythms) is disrupted and sleep-wake cycles can become irregular.

How Sleep Affects Your Skin

Your body boosts blood flow to the skin while you snooze, which means you wake to a healthy glow. During the day, skin is under constant attack, and has to work hard to protect itself. While we’re sleeping, our skin switches into ‘recovery mode,’ a time of intense repair and regeneration. This process can be up to three times faster than during the day.

Inadequate sleep raises your cortisol levels. This hormone triggers inflammation, which breaks down the proteins that keep your skin smooth and glowing. Inflammation can also make your skin more prone to acne and more sensitive to allergic reactions. 

If you sleep poorly, cortisol levels can rise and can prevent skin repair and collagen production. Taking a collagen powder at night can give a deep sleep for the body to restore your skin, as well as provide the raw materials to build new collagen.

Marine Collagen has been proven by science to improve skin hydration and elasticity, and reduce the visible signs of aging, combined with Vitamin C – known to help collagen synthesis – this process is amplified. 

Alternative Sleep Remedies

Medications taken for sleep can interfere with the natural sleep pattern, disrupting restorative sleep and can cause daytime sleepiness. Most of us are biologically good sleepers – it’s the things we do on a regular or even irregular basis that can impede our sleep, such as keeping an erratic sleep schedule, drinking caffeine too late in the day, using bright lights at night, and staying up too late. In reality, you just need to remove those obstacles so that your body can do it was born to do: get the naturalistic sleep you need to feel as good as possible and fuel your day. 

One increasingly popular strategy for sleeping better is taking cannabidiol (CBD), a derivative of cannabis. CBD is commonly used to improve sleep and decrease anxiety. CBD can be an effective way to support a return to a calm, balanced nervous system, as it helps with the GABA balance. CBD-rich hemp extracts may also be able to influence pain in several ways – by modulating that way the brain signals you to tell you that you are experiencing pain, by reducing inflammation which can cause or exacerbate pain sensations, and by distracting the mind away from focusing on the sensation of pain. Try using Bed Balm to target areas of pain.

To help quiet your mind and learn how to increase the amount of deep sleep you get each night, practice the following 5 tips:

• Work out daily
• Eat more fiber
• Try yoga or meditation
• Create a relaxing bedtime routine
• Make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary