Can B vitamins not only boost energy but also improve sleep quality? Many studies show that vitamin B6 is very beneficial for stable sleep, even earning it the nickname "dream vitamin." Why can vitamin B6 help with sleep? And how can you get enough B6 in your daily diet?
Many people think that B vitamins are only for boosting energy and that taking them will keep them from sleeping. This is actually a misconception, because vitamin B6 is one of the important B vitamins for calming nerves, soothing emotions, and helping with deep sleep. A long-term deficiency in vitamin B6 can also lead to low mood and affect sleep.
Vitamin B6 has a very special effect that many people have rumored: supplementing with vitamin B6 can make dreams particularly vivid and clear even after waking up. This rumored effect has since been confirmed by clinical research by American scholars and clinical trials by Australian scholars, which is why some people call vitamin B6 the "dream vitamin." In fact, this is likely closely related to vitamin B6's ability to help improve sleep quality, maintain nerve health, and aid memory.
In a previous article, Goodnight Probiotics (renamed Good Bacteria House Sleep Probiotics in 2022) Sleep Experiment, I mentioned that I am someone who has many dreams and remembers them very clearly, but my dreams are often bizarre and nonsensical. Trying vitamin B6 might make my dreams better. And in a previous introduction to Yakult 1000, Japanese netizens rumored that drinking it made them particularly prone to nightmares (and even erotic dreams), which is the opposite of vitamin B6, quite mysterious.
What is Vitamin B6?
Vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, is a water-soluble vitamin that is vital for many bodily functions, profoundly influencing various biochemical reactions for human physiological and psychological health. Vitamin B6 acts as a coenzyme in the body, participating in various metabolic processes, especially the metabolism of proteins and amino acids; it is also crucial for lipid metabolism, the normal functioning of the nervous system, and hematopoietic function.
Why does Vitamin B6 help with sleep?
Because vitamin B6 is a coenzyme that helps with amino acid metabolism, it participates in the metabolism of the circadian amino acid—tryptophan, thereby relieving stress, relaxing the mind, and ultimately aiding sleep. This aid to sleep is divided into three aspects: it helps alleviate stress and fall asleep by generating serotonin; another aspect is by generating melatonin, regulating the circadian rhythm, and improving the quality of deep sleep; it can also help generate GABA to relieve stress and shorten the time it takes to fall asleep.
1. Helps generate serotonin
First, vitamin B6 can promote the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin. Tryptophan is an amino acid that must be obtained from food and is a precursor for serotonin synthesis. Serotonin mainly acts in the brain, being an important neurotransmitter. It transmits messages of relaxation and rest for brain cells, thus helping with sleep. Additionally, serotonin is known as the "happy hormone" and can help people relax, alleviate depression, and combat anxiety.
2. Helps generate melatonin
Furthermore, serotonin can also enable the body to produce melatonin, which regulates the body's circadian rhythm, controlling the body's response to light and darkness, and influencing the human wake-sleep cycle. When it gets dark at night, melatonin secretion increases, making people feel tired and enter a sleep state. Therefore, vitamin B6 supplementation helps increase melatonin levels, adjust to jet lag or social jet lag, and improve sleep quality.
3. Helps generate GABA
Moreover, vitamin B6 also participates in the body's synthesis of GABA, a neurotransmitter also known as the "good sleep amino acid," which acts as a brake for nerves. There are also clear research findings on its efficacy in relieving stress and aiding sleep.
Therefore, if vitamin B6 is supplemented together with tryptophan or GABA, it can have an excellent synergistic effect on sleep.
What are the benefits of Vitamin B6?
In summary, vitamin B6 has a very wide range of benefits for the human body, including:
1. Helps with sleep
As mentioned above, vitamin B6 helps generate serotonin, melatonin, and GABA, so it can aid in falling asleep, adjust to jet lag, and improve sleep quality. Experiments have confirmed that vitamin B6 can also help remember dreams more clearly and vividly, an effect not achieved by simply taking B vitamins.
2. Supports nervous system health
Vitamin B6 helps produce neurotransmitters like dopamine and adrenaline, aiding in brain energy conversion, thereby promoting nervous system health and having an effect on preventing and alleviating headaches.
3. Helps memory
Harvard research indicates that high-dose supplementation of vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid helps slow memory decline, and multiple studies even suggest that vitamin B6 may prevent Alzheimer's disease.
4. Improves mood
Vitamin B6 can enhance positive emotions and prevent symptoms of low mood such as depression.
5. Women's menstrual health
Many studies show that vitamin B6 has preventive and soothing effects on premenstrual syndrome or menstrual pain in women.
6. Maintains cardiovascular health
Vitamin B6 can lower homocysteine levels in the blood, thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
7. Aids blood production
Red blood cell production also requires the assistance of vitamin B6. A deficiency in vitamin B6 may lead to anemia.
8. Improves skin and mucous membrane health
Vitamin B6 can help regulate skin oil secretion, contributing to improved skin health. A deficiency in vitamin B6 may cause seborrheic dermatitis, stomatitis, and other conditions.
Therefore, vitamin B6 can help improve sleep quality, maintain nerve health, and aid memory, so supplementing with vitamin B6 to have good dreams and remember them well makes sense.
What natural foods contain vitamin B6?
Here are some foods rich in vitamin B6:
1. Chicken and turkey: These meats are good sources of vitamin B6.
2. Fish: Mackerel, salmon, tuna, tilapia, and other fish are rich in vitamin B6.
3. Legumes: Black beans, pinto beans, adzuki beans, peas, and other legumes are rich in vitamin B6, containing about 0.5 mg per 100 grams.
4. Nuts and seeds: Walnuts, almonds, cashews, sesame seeds, and other nuts and seeds are good sources of vitamin B6.
5. Brown rice: Brown rice is a very healthy carbohydrate and also a good source of vitamin B6.
6. Bananas: Bananas are also rich in vitamin B6.
7. Probiotics: Good gut bacteria also have the ability to produce vitamin B6, so if your gut microbiota is healthy, you don't need to worry too much about short-term dietary deficiencies in vitamin B6.
Recommended daily intake of Vitamin B6
According to the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for Taiwanese, individuals aged 19 and over need 1.5 mg of vitamin B6 daily, with the requirement increasing to 1.6 mg for those over 51. Additionally, pregnant or lactating women need an extra 0.4 mg of vitamin B6.
The previous article, What food nutrients should be supplemented to combat air pollution – besides B vitamins, what else?, analyzed a successful (though small) human trial result (B vitamins attenuate the epigenetic effects of ambient fine particles in a pilot human intervention trial). Researchers at Columbia University in the US found that daily supplementation with B vitamins (containing 2.5mg of folic acid, 50mg of vitamin B6, and 1mg of vitamin B12, all higher than Taiwan's recommended daily intake) successfully reduced the adverse effects of air pollution by 28-56%.
【This article is reproduced with permission from Wayne's Agri-Food Life, original title: What are the benefits of vitamin B6? Why is it called the "good dream vitamin"? What foods are rich in vitamin B6?】
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