Seth Roberts is a pretty interesting guy.
He’s a bestselling author, a psychology professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of California at Berkeley.
He’s also a big believer in the power of Vitamin D3.
Dr. Roberts believes that taking 4000-5000UI of Vitamin D3 in the morning can help to improve one’s sleep and mood.
Vitamin D3 is a hormone commonly associated with sunlight. Since our circadian rhythm (and by extension, sleep) is regulated by light and darkness, the hypothesis is that taking Vitamin D3 in the morning will provide a big signal (zeitgeber) needed to keep you alert during the day and help you sleep at night.
Vitamin D3 is fairly inexpensive ($4-15) and can be found in health stores, some grocery stores, and through on-line retailers.
Here at Zeo, we love any advice on how to get better sleep. So we thought, why not issue a call to arms, get some fellow Zeolots to try this out?
As part of this limited edition Zeo Sleep Hack, you’ll learn about Vitamin D3, how it can affect your sleep, and get to see the results for yourself.
This 8-day series will take you on a sleep hacking journey, culminating in a Hangout where you can compare your results with other sleep hackers as well as ask questions of Seth Roberts.
This challenge, should you choose to accept, consists of the following steps:
Monday – Wednesday Night: 3 nights of baseline sleep. Don’t deviate from your normal routine or start adding anything new. These nights will function as your “before VD3”.
Thursday – Sunday Night: Start taking 4000-5000IU of Vitamin D3 in the morning when you get up.
Post your Weekly Sleep Data on Zeo’s Google+ page: Share your results with your fellow self-experimenters and sleep hackers.
Join our Google+ Hangout & TweetUp with Seth Roberts on Monday, Feb 27th to discuss your results, talk Vitamin D3, and the importance of self-experimentation for self-knowledge and growth.
For those of you who haven’t tried any self experimentation before, this is great jumping-on point, especially if you want to get better sleep.
Who knows, you might even become a believer in Vitamin D3! Sign up here.
Keith (Ave ZQ: 97) is a writer and a member of the Zeo Content team. When it comes to sleep, he’s a Viking.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Linked it here before, but this is relevant:
Vitamin D & Sleep: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL35D93D52577FB34C
While too little Vitamin D3 (actually a hormone, as stated) may cause disturbed sleep, too much might also cause sleep disturbance. I think this is discussed at the above link. 4000 to 5000IU might be too much for some and not enough for others. More appropriate and responsible, in my opinion, would be to have serum D3 tested and dose accordingly, with follow-up testing at regular intervals, while monitoring how you feel and how Zeo reports your sleep.
I personally take D3, 2000IU. I started with 4000IU, which raised my serum D3 level to 58 from 36, increased my deep sleep and reduced daytime fatigue. However, continued dosing at 4000 seemed to cause fragmented sleep, a reduction in deep sleep (Zeo results), and an increase in fatigue. Consequently, I had to lower the dosage and I’m waiting my next blood test to see my serum level and determine my next appropriate dosage.
See more here: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
Jay
There’s also the timing. I found that vitamin D in the evening damaged my sleep: http://www.gwern.net/Zeo#vitamin-d-at-morn-helps
Another factor that determines the “daily need” should be age. You should put that in the factor – different ages need different amounts!