L-Tryptophan Dietary Supplement, 500 Mg, 120 Capsules

I've used several brands of l-tryptophan over the years as a sleep aid, specifically to reduce sleep latency, the time it takes to fall asleep after lights out. I think that tryptophan is effective for this purpose as well as helping treat a number of ailments.The National Institutes of Health online library has several articles about tryptophan. Here's an excerpt from one of these articles: "In summary, tryptophan is a unique amino acid that is an essential component of the human diet. Although it has the lowest concentration in the human body relative to the other 19 primary amino acids, tryptophan is a critical component of numerous metabolic functions. Experimental research has shown that tryptophan can be an important determinant of mood, cognition, and behavior. Although results have been inconsistent, clinical trials have provided some initial evidence of tryptophan’s efficacy for treatment of psychiatric disorders, particularly when used in combination with other therapeutic agents. To improve the utility of tryptophan research for understanding the relationship of serotonin dysregulation as an underlying mechanism in psychiatric disorders, as well as behavioral, cognitive, and physical problems, it will be important to understand the factors that have contributed to the inconsistent results from previous studies. To advance the efficacy and utility of tryptophan for therapeutic purposes, future clinical studies will need to improve on methodological pitfalls made in the past. Such considerations would include employing systematic control of dosing, standardization of both research and treatment methodologies, and improved diagnostics of psychiatric disorders to test more homogeneous groups of patients, as well as careful selection and matching of patient and control groups (or conditions) being tested."I was most interested in information about the effects of tryptophan on sleep, which this short article addressed: "Over the past 20 yr, 40 controlled studies have been described concerning the effects of L-tryptophan on human sleepiness and/or sleep. The weight of evidence indicates that L-tryptophan in doses of 1 g or more produces an increase in rated subjective sleepiness and a decrease in sleep latency (time to sleep). There are less firm data suggesting that L-tryptophan may have additional effects such as decrease in total wakefulness and/or increase in sleep time. Best results (in terms of positive effects on sleep or sleepiness) have been found in subjects with mild insomnia, or in normal subjects reporting a longer-than-average sleep latency. Mixed or negative results occur in entirely normal subjects--who are not appropriate subjects since there is 'no room for improvement.' Mixed results are also reported in severe insomniacs and in patients with serious medical or psychiatric illness."So it appears that tryptophan has a number of uses as a nutritional supplement. I've definitely gotten some reduction of sleep latency by taking two of the Pure Naturals 500 mg tablets at bedtime.

I have had sleeping problems since cancer treatments about six years ago. I have struggled with different doctors preferring me on different sleeping meds and switching around medications was never healthy or solved my insomnia and ptsd problems. I am a biology student and after taking developmental biology last semester I learned about L-tryptophan and melatonin as well as other essential and naturally produced chemicals in our bodies. I did experimentation with chicken embryos and melatonin. What I found in the classroom and through scientific research was that melatonin and it’s precursor, L-tryptophan, regulate our internal rhythms. These rhythms include sleep but also include serotonin production, cholesterol, cardiovascular development, etc. Melatonin is produced from L tryptophan and both are essential for humans of all ages, including embryo health. I have weaned myself off of sleeping medication and only take L-tryptophan for sleeping now. I am sleeping through the night and my nightmares have decreased. I feel happier and healthier. My skin has been extremely clear as well, which may be connected to feeling better. Do your own research as well and try supplementing your natural L-tryptophan levels! You won’t regret it!

Tryptophan is my choice for sleeping, the only supplement that works best for me. I have tried them all, even herbs. This puts me to sleep within an hour after taking. I sleep deep and wake up refreshed, not groggy, with energy. When I first began to take it, I could only take 250 mg, 500 mg was too much, until my body was use to it. Too much will make you groggy throughout the day. Now I am up to 500mg.If I do wake up in the middle of the night, I take another one, and go back to sleep, still waking up feeling refreshed.One good side effect is that I was not hungry all the time. Also, feel less anxious. Tryptophan raises the serotonin levels within the brain.I also noticed that it takes about 3 months for the full effects of this to take place.My daughter, who also has a very difficult time sleeping takes tryptophan and she also has found that she is getting a good nights sleep.

I don’t know how anyone could take this during the day as directed. I can take 2 - 3 capsules and 30 minutes or so later and I can be out like a light. If I don’t have at least 7-8 hours to sleep (I rarely do) then I wake up a bit more groggy than usual and have a harder time getting up and moving but it doesn’t last very long and is easily chased away with a cup of coffee. That being said it’s not an over powering feeling of sedation after taking it. I can take it an hour or so before going to bed and be okay. This is an amazing sleep aid for me and I especially like that the sleep while on it is a restful and “real” sleep. Some sleep-aids and tranquilizers have that chemical induced type sleep that causes you to wake up the next morning groggy and feeling like only 5 minutes have passed. With this there weren’t any issues with dreaming or nausea either. There isn’t a risk of chemical dependency to my knowledge and certainly not in the sporadic amounts that I use it. I like that it isn’t a sketchy chemical pill too. The way I use it makes it pretty cheap to buy and keep readily available. I take medicine that can sometimes make it difficult to fall asleep if I take it too late in the morning, this negates that issue and allows restful sleep.