Does Turmeric Make You Sleepy
This article is more than 2 years old
If you think, does Turmeric make you sleepy or you have heard people reporting improved sleep patterns thanks to turmeric or you have heard success stories with turmeric and sleep through supplements? The answer to all the questions is a big Yes! Turmeric does help you go to sleep but if taken correctly.
You are probably struggling with sleep and looking for natural ways to improve your sleep pattern. We all have been through this phase where insomnia just hits you hard and every minute of slumber weighs in Gold. You might have already tried the golden milk recipe but have not got the instant results. The reason is you are taking turmeric the wrong way.
Before we get into how Turmeric helps in sleep, I recommend that you read some nerd stuff related to why you might be struggling with sleeping.
NERDS EXPLANATION: CYTOKINES
The cells in your immune system communicate with each other by a family of glycoproteins that are commonly called as Cytokines. There are different types of cytokines and some of them boost sleep while others prevent you from sleep.
If your body has more sleep-depriving cytokines than sleep helping ones, then you will struggle to sleep. It is going to be one long night.
The idea is, if there is a balance between both types of cytokines then you will have normal sleep. But that is usually not the case and it may be due to different reasons. Let’s explore some of them:
WHAT CAUSES ANTI SLEEP CYTOKINES
There are a bunch of reasons why these sleep inhibiting cytokines are on the rise in your body. A common reason is some sort of infection. Yes during fever or some bad infection you will have a hard time to sleep because your body is fighting with foreign bodies at the cellular level and anti cytokines may be high in number.
Another problem related to high cytokines is inflammation. If you are suffering from joint pains especially arthritis then the likely cause of sleep deprivation is cytokines. Similarly, Stress! Yes, if you are anxious or if you keep on thinking on stuff then it will increase anti sleep cytokines in your body.
These are some of the reasons why sleep discouraging cytokines are more in number. The cause for your body might be different, you can check this post in case you feel if it is inflammation.
CYTOKINES MODULATION
So now you know that cytokines are probably high in your body. So the question is how one can increase production of sleep-promoting cytokines in the body or reduce the production of sleep-depriving cytokines. The answer is to modulate the cytokines and this is where things get from nerdy to beautiful!
GETTING INTO BUSINESS: DOES TURMERIC MAKE YOU SLEEPY
Turmeric is made out of many nutrients but the most important that is present in a very low amount of turmeric powder is Curcumin. This compound is the reason why Turmeric is very famous for its medicinal benefits.
Curcumin is a MIGHTY cytokines modulator. It suppresses sleep depriving cytokines in your body and neutralizes the cytokines imbalance in the body.
In nerdy terms, Curcumin reduces inflammation-promoting cytokines by disabling nuclear factor-kappa B called as NF-kB.
So the problem creating cytokines get lower in numbers and get in balance with sleep-promoting or even lower than them. In the end, you get a cytokines balanced body and you can sleep easily without difficulty. I will get into an effective solution of getting Curcumin easily just hold on a little more.
THE PROBLEMS WITH TURMERIC:
As mentioned Turmeric powder is sleep promoter but it is not as easy as it seems, there are some problems associated with turmeric.
a) QUANTITY
Turmeric has a very low quantity of curcumin. For example, if you bought 1000 grams of turmeric then will only have 36 grams of Curcumin in it. Obviously, you cannot eat 1kg of turmeric per day. On average you can only take 2-3 tablespoons of turmeric and that too is very difficult considering it is very bitter. These 2-3 tablespoons will only have few grams of Curcumin. So what you get is the very low quantity of sleep helping cytokine helper. Does not help our cause!
b) ABSORPTION
The second problem is the inability of our body to absorb the low amount of curcumin in turmeric powder. That means all the tablespoons you are swallowing, only a few milligrams not even a gram gets absorbed while more than 98% gets excreted or wasted.
That is an insult, the already less amount of curcumin is not getting absorbed by the body.
SOLUTION TO BOTH PROBLEMS
The solution to above problem would be to have maximum extracted curcumin out of the turmeric powder and increase absorption somehow.
The easiest and pain-free solution is given by the supplements such as these:
These supplements have already taken the pain of extracting curcumin only from the turmeric powder. So the pills have the 95% of curcumin in them. Imagine the tablespoons you are swallowing quickly are made up of 95% compound for which turmeric’s sleep induction is famous for.
The second problem of absorption is solved by these supplements by presenting the molecules of curcumin to our body’s favorite packaging. In technical words, the molecules are seen by our bodies as biologically available or Bioavailability. Curcumin in this state is readily absorbed by the gut and then immediately dispatched in the bloodstream where it slows down the production of sleep-depriving cytokines.
I have touched this topic in great detail on turmeric dosage per day. You will find it helpful.
CONCLUSION
So you know it now why Turmeric and sleep are related and know the answer to the query does turmeric make you sleepy. You might be wondering why not try golden milk for sleep. It is a good idea but that is 97% Turmeric milk, not Curcumin Milk which is the sleep-inducing chemical. For better and immediate effects I would opt for supplements because they offer more benefits other than just sleep.
