Image courtesy of Sleep Foundation.
Collagen is an important protein that is popularly used as a supplement. It is mostly taken to improve skin, bones, and nails, but collagen also has additional benefits that aren’t as well known, but are just as important. And while collagen is primarily used for joint health, it is also used for the skin and nails. It leaves them a lot stronger and healthier over time, and there is even more that it can do. If you are someone with a sleeping problem, you can be greatly helped by collagen. It can actually help people sleep, which is not a commonly touted benefit.
Getting collagen for your sleep issues will be a pretty easy process. It is one of the most popular supplements on the market, and it is also easy to use. There are lots of benefits to it, and very little drawbacks, and you can take it with just water or a meal. Some types of collagen target the gut, some types target the joints, and some presumably address the issues that keep you from sleeping. When you can sleep well, every cell in your body receives the rest it needs, so it is definitely worth it to look for solutions anywhere you can find them, including in collagen.
What is Collagen?
To understand how collagen works on the sleep cycle, you first need to know what it is and how it works in the body. Collagen is a protein in the body that is known as a building clock. It is produced by the body naturally, something that makes it a safe substance to take with minimal, if any, side effects. Collagen makes up a large percentage of the body, and because of that provides benefits to many different systems. Collagen is found in the skin, bones, muscles, and more. When your body is depleted of collagen, all these parts will be deprived of something they need to function at their best. Replenishing the collagen in the body will have that all turned back around.
Collagen is one of the most popular supplements on the market for joint and skin care, but less is known about its effects on sleep. It can be taken as a capsule, as a powder, or in liquid form, and the powdered form, also known as collagen peptides, is considered the best way to take it. It is easy to digest and can be mixed into any drink or meal. Liquid collagen can also be added to drinks and meals.
There are 28 types of collagen, and they combine to make up about 30 percent of your body overall. Some have somewhat more important functions than others, and some can be found in higher quantities. To get the full benefits of collagen, it might be necessary to look into what types work best. Four types of collagen are most prominent in the body. They are called type I, type II, type III, and type IV collagen. Each of these has its own important function, and sometimes they overlap. Type I collagen is found in all the connective tissue in the body, type II collagen is found in joints, discs and gut lining, and type III collagen is found in skin and blood vessels.
Collagen’s Benefits
Collagen builds and maintains the health of each major organ in the body. It replaces dead skin cells, gives skin elasticity, helps blood clot, reduces joint pain, and keeps skin moisturized, though is best known for reducing joint pain. As people age, the collagen in the body decreases, causing there to be less cushioning for the joints. The lack of cushioning will cause the bones to have less protection, which leads to more friction and joint pain over time. Adding collagen to the diet works to reduce those painful effects.
Collagen also works to boost muscle mass, builds up the arteries, gives strength to the hair and nails, and can help you regulate your weight. It helps with the digestion process, builds and repairs the gut lining, and can even help with leaky gut syndrome and IBS symptoms like bloating, constipation, diarrhea, cramps, and acid reflux. Collagen can also help fight gut inflammation and protect against leaky gut syndrome. Each type of collagen has its own benefits, and they can overall affect sleep patterns too.
How Does Collagen Affect Sleep?
Studies over the years have found that collagen has a not so insignificant impact on sleep. A substance found in collagen, glycine, is what causes its effects on sleep patterns. The exact amount of glycine that helps people go to sleep is the exact amount that you can find in collagen. Glycine is an amino acid that is found in the body and can also be taken in through food. It is a building block for making protein that helps people fall asleep faster, sleep longer, and have a higher quality sleep.
The glycine found in collagen also helps improve concentration, energy levels, and cognition, so you will have a better nights sleep and feel new and improved in the mornings. It targets the core body temperature instead of acting like a sedative the way many other sleep aids do. It even raises serotonin levels, and serotonin has long been known to have an effect on sleep. Serotonin plays a role in controlling the body’s sleep wake behavior. It needs to be present in the right quantity for the best effect.
When collagen affects body temperature, it has an effect on how we sleep because body temperature plays a big role in our sleep cycle. The body starts to drop in temperature as it gets closer to your time to sleep, and the glycine in collagen can make that happen for you even if your body isn't doing it naturally. When it approaches your bedtime, your body’s temperature will drop by 1 or 2 degrees celsius, letting your body drift off into sleep easier. So when collagen helps drop your temperature, your body will respond the same way.
Research has found that when someone takes glycine, they tend to fall asleep a lot quicker, sleep more deeply through the night, and stay asleep for longer. And with improved sleep quality comes a better time passed during waking hours. You will end up having more energy throughout the day and feeling less fatigued overall. This will eventually lead to even better nights of rest over time, and a continuation of the cycle.
Side Effects of Collagen
Collagen isn’t known to cause major side effects. As a natural substance that exists within the body, it is one of the safest supplements that you can take for its benefits. You will only experience side effects from collagen if you take far too much, and even then, it won’t be difficult to get rid of them. As long as you make sure to always take the right dose of collagen, you can avoid even the mild side effects that can come from taking collagen.
Too much collagen over a long period of time can lead to some digestive side effects. One of them is a heavy feeling in the stomach that can lead to feeling some overall discomfort. Another more minor side effect is mild diarrhea, but in extreme cases, the side effects can be more difficult to handle. Those side effects are skin rashes, hyperglycemia, overaccumulation of calcium, and kidney stones. These side effects are extremely rare and usually only arise in cases of extreme overuse of collagen. To avoid having these side effects, make sure that you always take the right dose whenever you get your daily dose of collagen.
Where To Get Collagen
Collagen can be found at many different drug and department stores. You can find it in supplement and powder form at Target, GNC, Rite Aid, CVS Pharmacy, and Walgreens. It won’t at all be difficult to find the collagen you need when you are in stores. And if you want to buy your collagen online, you will have even more options to potentially get it from. You get collagen from online shops like Amazon, Nature Made, Sprouts Farmers Market, Dr. Emil, and The Vitamin Shoppe. Each of these websites makes getting collagen a simple process from purchase to delivery.
Dr. Emil’s Multi Collagen Plus offers several great benefits that make it a top contender when it comes to picking out a collagen supplement. The list of benefits this supplement provides includes:
- 5 types of premium collagen peptides. Collagen peptides are short strings of amino acids that boost muscle growth and muscle repair as well as bone growth and repair. These powerful peptides will give you the maximum benefits you are looking for!
- Fast absorbing capsules. How fast something absorbs in your system determines how quickly it takes effect, and these capsules will take effect right away.
- Supports healthy joints, bones, and digestion. Each of these things can impact your ability to lose weight when they aren’t in top shape, and collagen will help prevent that from happening.
- Gives hair, skin, and nails a youthful appearance. With collagen, you will not only feel better, but you will look better as well.
How To Take Collagen
There are several ways you can go about adding collagen to your diet. You can choose to go with collagen powder, collagen supplements, or liquid collagen. The most popular way to take collagen is in powder form, and part of that is because collagen can be even more effective in powder form compared to the others. You can put collagen powder into any drink or food of your choice, and it is made so that the flavor doesn’t stand out. Collagen supplements can be taken as a capsule or even a gummy, and liquid collagen can be added to drinks and meals just like the powder can. You also need to make sure you take the right dose of collagen so that you can avoid any and all potential side effects.
Adding collagen powder to food isn’t a difficult process. Some foods are easy to add collagen into. Try mixing your collagen into some yogurt, smoothies, soups, stews, and even scrambled eggs. Any food you can stir is ideal to mix some collagen into. You can even bake using collagen. When searching for powdered collagen, you can even find flavored ones on the market, which can add something different to your drinks or meals. You can find caramel collagen, chocolate collagen, and even peach mango collagen. You can find many kinds of flavors that can enhance a meal or drink.
When you use collagen for sleep, you not only get the surprising benefits it brings to your sleep cycle, but you will also get some benefits to your joints, skin, and even your hair. A restful sleep cycle just doesn’t come with as many benefits when you take other sleep aids. So if you want a good night’s sleep and to be healthier overall, try collagen for a solution.
