A recent research study conducted for the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that a surprising ingredient in cow’s milk may help remedy sleep issues. A tall glass of warm milk before bedtime has been used for centuries, and although its sleep-inducing qualities have been attributed to tryptophan Trusted Source Sleep-enhancing peptides in cow’s milk could help develop new, natural sleep remedies According to time-honored advice, drinking a glass of warm milk at bedtime will encourage a good night’s rest. www.news-medical.net , a new peptide has been discovered to help. So, wave goodbye to the before-bed milk naysayers because there’s new research to back up this time-honored tradition.
The way milk helps sleep Trusted Source Drinking Milk Before Bed: Is It a Good Idea? Drinking a glass of warm milk before bed is a common practice used to promote relaxation and support quality sleep. This article reviews the science behind drinking milk before bed. www.healthline.com has long been attributed to its comforting aspects as well as the physical ingredients found in milk. Tryptophan and melatonin are two components found in milk that are the main contributors to sleepiness.
Tryptophan is an amino acid that is prevalent in protein-rich foods and is also an important part of serotonin production. Melatonin is commonly referred to as the sleep hormone. This hormone is responsible for regulating your circadian rhythm, and it also prepares your body for your sleep cycle.
However, these two components aren’t the only things that help induce sleep via cow’s milk. Cow’s milk is interlaced with a wide variety of peptides. A few of these peptides, in particular, react with your body’s own processes to induce sleepiness.
Researchers under the American Chemical Society have found a mixture of peptides in cow’s milk that contribute to sleep enhancement. This peptide mixture is called casein tryptic hydrolysate (CTH), and the mixture is effective at reducing stress along with helping sleep.
The CTH also holds a specific peptide inside of it, referred to as a-casozepine (a-CZP). This is the peptide believed to be mostly responsible for the positive effects.
In this research study, scientists compared the effects of CTH and a-CZP in a mouse sleep test. They found that CTH showed better sleep properties than just the a-CZP on its own. This finding led the scientists to believe that there are multiple sleep-enhancing peptides present in the CTH mixture.
After this initial step, the research team used mass spectrometry to find bioactive peptides released from the CTH during gastric digestion. They proceeded to screen those peptides for binding to a GABA receptor and their ability to cross the blood-brain barrier.
The strongest peptides were tested in the mice, and it was found that the number of mice that fell asleep increased by 25%. The sleep duration was also 400% longer than the control group. Although the findings from this research study show apparent results, the research team believes more testing needs to be completed before using CTH in natural sleep remedies.
The best way to use cow’s milk for help sleeping is to consume it warm. Not only will warm milk make it easier to digest, but it also provides you with primal comfort too. Although it isn’t feasible to know exactly when the milk you’re drinking came from a night-milked cow, it’s worth noting that this milk will make you sleepier.
Milk taken from cows during the night has been proven to contain far more melatonin than its daytime counterpart.
Unfortunately, taking advantage of this both old and newfound discovery isn’t healthy for everyone. If you suffer from lactose intolerance or you’re food-sensitive, drinking warm milk before bed will leave you feeling uncomfortable at best.
If you can’t use cow’s milk for sleep help, consuming foods with tryptophan is a good alternative. Foods that contain tryptophan include chicken, turkey, sunflower seeds, and peanuts, to name a few.
