Getting a good night’s sleep helps you work better, feel better and even look better, but it can be elusive no matter how tired you are. Insomnia affects an estimated 50 percent of people, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, and 20 to 30 percent of those affected will struggle for more than one year. Gelatin may have some positive effect in helping you sleep, but all of the evidence is not yet in.
Sleep Facts
Sleep is necessary to help your body repair itself after the exertions of the day. Our sleep patterns may have developed as an adaptive evolutionary process. Hunting is safer for humans during the day, and resting while being hidden still kept us safe from predators at night. According to the University of Washington, animals low on the food chain tend to sleep much less than those who are likely to eat them.
Gelatin Facts
There are several kinds of gelatin. The most commonly used type is made from the bones and cartilage of pigs. The parts are crushed, rendered to remove the fat, soaked in hydrochloric acid and then in sodium hydroxide. All of the water is removed, leaving a fine powder that must be rehydrated before it can be used.
Gelatin and Sleep
According to a 1998 study at the University of Southern California-San Diego, a low tryptophan diet helped encourage rapid-eye-movement sleep in men. When the diet was given to four women to begin the study, they all vomited, prompting the scientists to stop using women as subjects. Gelatin was used as part of the low-tryptophan diet, but there is no evidence that the gelatin in and of itself had any effect on sleep patterns.
Warning
Insomnia can be a sign of a problem with your physical or emotional health. If you have tried everything and are still not able to get to sleep after seven to ten days, consult your health care provider to see if the two of you can figure out the cause instead of just trying to self-treat the symptom.
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