Few things feel better than a night of quality, restful slumber. And while we all know sleep is good for us, sometimes it’s just not that simple. Chasing ZZZs can become a tiresome task if deep sleep seems constantly out of reach no matter how many sheep you count. Restlessness, insomnia, and morning fatigue are all too common, even for people who try to set healthy bedtime routines and sleep environments.
So if despite your best efforts, you’re struggling to fall or stay asleep---or if you think you’re sleeping enough yet continuously waking up feeling tired, irritated, or mentally foggy---it might be time to look a bit deeper. Your vitamin D levels could be an invisible factor in your sleep issues.
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How does vitamin D impact sleep?
Vitamin D impacts sleep in a few ways you might not be aware of. While this vitamin has been studied for its relationship to bone development, immune function, and overall health, it has also been researched extensively for its link to sleep and energy. Following are some of the connections that have been drawn between this particular nutrient and sleep/wake cycles.
Melatonin production
First off, this vitamin is involved in the production of melatonin, a critical sleep hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycles.
In some ways, in fact, vitamin D and melatonin are like two sides of the same circadian-rhythm coin: daylight prompts vitamin D production, while darkness prompts melatonin production. Insufficient melatonin can cause insomnia or sleep disturbances, and a common indicator of low melatonin is waking up in the mornings feeling groggy and unrested.
Not unsurprisingly, these symptoms are also tied to low D-vitamin levels, as the two are strongly linked. A deficiency of one can lead to a deficiency of the other, and a healthy balance of these two hormones is crucial both for sleeping well and for feeling well-rested and alert during the day.
Calcium and phosphate absorption
Further, vitamin D is necessary for the body to be able to absorb calcium and phosphate. In fact, that’s one of the vitamin’s main roles. For that reason, a deficiency can result in low levels of calcium and phosphate in the body---a chain-reaction of sorts.
Calcium and phosphate are strongly tied to the body’s energy levels, and insufficient levels of either can precipitate very negative side effects.
- Low calcium can cause extreme fatigue, insomnia, and brain fog---so even if you’re getting enough sleep in theory, you might not feel well-rested if you don’t have enough calcium (or if you aren’t absorbing it properly). Hypocalcemia, the condition in which the blood doesn’t have enough calcium, is often linked to inadequate vitamin D.
- Hypophosphatemia is a condition that results from too-low phosphorus levels in the body, and symptoms include fatigue, muscle weakness, irritability, and confusion.
Even if you’re taking supplements with calcium and phosphorus, or if you’re getting enough of the nutrients from your diet, your body won’t actually be able to use them if inadequate D-vitamin levels prevent absorption. Over time, this can have even more serious health effects beyond sleepiness, including weakened bones and malnutrition.
Sleep disorders
Insufficient levels of vitamin D are also linked directly to sleep disorders. So, basically, if you aren’t getting enough of the nutrient, you might experience poor sleep quality, trouble staying asleep, or general daily sleepiness.
This particular vitamin affects both how long you stay asleep as well as the actual quality of that sleep, both of which are fundamental to feeling well-rested and ready to take on the day.
Is a vitamin D deficiency contributing to my sleep issues?
In short, it’s possible that a vitamin D deficiency is contributing to your sleep problems.
As mentioned above, this nutrient has a significant relationship to sleep: a major symptom of D deficiency is excessive tiredness, and it’s connected to sleep-related processes including melatonin production and calcium/phosphorus absorption. This is one of the main vitamins linked to sleep quality and duration.
Going a step further, it’s also related to specific sleep disorders, including:
- Sleep apnea. This is a disorder in which your breathing repetitively stops and starts throughout the night. There are a few different types, and common symptoms include loud snoring and awakening with a dry mouth or morning headache.
- Restless legs syndrome (RLS). This condition causes uncontrollable, uncomfortable urges to move your legs. Because symptoms tend to worsen in the evenings and at night, RLS can significantly disrupt sleep.
- Insomnia. This is a more general sleep disorder that might involve difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep, or waking up too early in the mornings without being able to go back to sleep. Insomnia can be a short-term or chronic condition.
These conditions are more serious than general fatigue or sleepiness, and they’re also linked to other deficiencies and health concerns. If you suspect that you might be experiencing a sleep disorder, your best bet is to talk to a doctor to make sure you get an accurate diagnosis and adequate care.
If none of these more serious conditions are causing your sleep issues, vitamin D could still be a factor to look at. There are a lot of links between this nutrient and sleep quality/energy levels that don’t involve a specific sleep disorder diagnosis.
For example, if you’ve turned to melatonin supplements to help you achieve deeper slumber but you’re still feeling fatigue, brain fog, or grogginess, you might actually be missing the bigger picture. Because of the melatonin-vitamin D connection, you could actually end up in a situation where melatonin supplementation does help you sleep better, but low D levels still leave you feeling fatigued during the day.
When it comes down to it, getting enough sleep is vital, but so is feeling like you got enough sleep---and sufficient vitamin D is needed to achieve both of those.
Getting to the root cause of sleep problems
Excessive tiredness can be an indicator of an underlying D deficiency, though it can also have many other possible causes.
The best way to know whether it’s low D-vitamin levels or something else causing your sleep issues is to cut out the guesswork and simply get tested. Base’s personalized sleep testing plan will measure your vitamins, hormones, and nutrients so you can actually get answers---as well as diet, lifestyle, and supplementation recommendations tailored to your body and your needs. This type of personalized approach offers long-term support for long-term health that reaches beyond the occasional appointment.
Other signs of vitamin D deficiency
Sleep disturbance isn’t the only possible symptom of low vitamin D.This important nutrient impacts many of the body’s fundamental functions, and the following are some other common signs of inadequate vitamin D levels in the blood:
- Frequent infections: Because this vitamin is critical for the immune system’s healthy functioning, inadequate levels can lead to recurring illnesses like colds, flu, bronchitis, and even pneumonia.
- Depression and anxiety: Research demonstrates a link between low D-vitamin levels and anxiety/depression, and receptors for this vitamin are found in the parts of the brain also associated with depression. Due to the vitamin’s connection to sunlight, it might also have an effect on seasonal depression. Inadequate levels of calcidiol (a form of vitamin D) have been observed in people with both anxiety disorders and clinical depression.
- Chronic pain: Body aches---including bone, lower back, muscle, and arthritis pain---are a potential symptom of low D levels in the blood.
- Bone loss: Because this vitamin allows for calcium absorption, it plays a significant role in bone health. Insufficient levels can lead to bone loss in adults, and in children it can cause serious health problems like rickets. Vitamin D deficiencies are also linked to higher instances of bone fractures.
- Difficulty healing: There are a few ways in which vitamin D affects healing after injuries. In general, it can help the body fight infection and manage inflammation, and more specifically, some research suggests this nutrient is needed for the formation of new skin after an injury.
Beyond these common symptoms, studies show a correlation between low vitamin D and many chronic conditions; however, there’s not a lot of certainty about which is the cause and which is the effect. That said, supplementation of this nutrient is often recommended for people with immune system disorders, multiple sclerosis, some types of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Can vitamin D supplements help improve sleep?
Many people can benefit from vitamin D supplementation.
This particular vitamin deficiency is very common worldwide, and somewhere around 40% of adults in the U.S. have inadequate D-vitamin levels. Sunlight offers a natural source of the nutrient, but there are a variety of personal factors that can cause deficiency, such as age, skin color, sun exposure, sunscreen use, diet, malabsorption, and medications. Environmental factors like the season, where you live, and the time(s) of day you go outside also play a role. This nutrient can also be found in your diet, but it’s not in many foods nor in very high doses.
For these reasons, vitamin D supplementation can be helpful for many people who don’t get enough in their daily lives. Plus, research indicates that supplementing with enough vitamin D to achieve normal levels can significantly alleviate the severity of sleepiness and fatigue for those with deficiencies.
Getting adequate vitamin D can improve both sleep quality and duration, and since many people don’t get enough of this nutrient through their lifestyles, supplementation can be a solid sleep solution.
Vitamin D dosage and timing
While you can find plenty of foods fortified with vitamin D, it’s still one of the five most common nutrient deficiencies. But if you’re unsure how much to supplement with, it’s a good idea to add a bit at a time and monitor your blood levels over time until you reach a healthy degree.
Dosage
In general, the recommended daily dose is 400 international units (IU) per day for children 12 months and younger, 600 IU for people between 1 and 70 years old, and 800 IU for anyone over 70. When it comes to supplementation, up to 4,000 IUs is deemed safe for most adults, but people with health conditions might need more---but it’s best to check with a medical professional before you make this call.
Before you begin adding vitamin D supplements to your daily routine, you should first check your multivitamin (if you take one) to see how many IUs it might include.
Of course, as with anything, you don’t want to overdo it. This is a fat-soluble rather than water-soluble vitamin, which means you can actually ingest dangerous levels. The good news is that extremely high levels over long periods of time have been shown to be needed for toxicity---something like 10 times the recommended daily dose over a period of months
Using a service like Base can help you monitor your blood levels with ongoing testing to make sure you’re getting what you need without going overboard.
Timing
Since this vitamin is fat-soluble, it’s best absorbed when taken with fat-containing foods. The larger the meal, the better. This doesn’t mean you have to eat a deep-fried meal every time you reach for the vitamin D; anything cooked in oil or including high-fat foods like eggs, avocado, nuts, or whole-milk products will do.
Some people report that taking vitamin D at night can negatively affect sleep quality, but this hasn’t been proven. Generally, it’s possible to see negative effects of vitamin D on sleep when your levels reach 80-100 ng/mL or higher, but because “normal” levels are defined as 40 ng/ml and it can take 2000 IU per day to increase vitamin D blood levels by 20 ng/ml, this is unlikely with supplementation.
As long as you remember to take the supplement daily and with a meal, you should listen to your body and take it at whatever time of day feels best for you.
Sustainable sleep solutions
If you’re looking for long-term sleep support, guess-and-check supplementation strategies simply won’t cut it. The best way to meet your body’s needs is to understand what they are, and the personalized testing offered by Base can help you do just that.
Whether your fatigue is due to low vitamin D or something else entirely, Base can give you answers as well as personalized health recommendations so you can start taking tangible steps toward feeling as good as possible.
Struggling with sleep?
Take our quiz to build a bespoke testing plan that will help you improve your sleep and energy.
