Mary
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Lipoic acid helps restore, synchronize the 'biological clock' (phys.org)
Lipoic acid entrains the hepatic circadian clock and lipid metabolic proteins that have been desynchronized with advanced age - PMC (nih.gov)
I stumbled across ALA's potential effects on sleep after reading about how @msf used it (along with Chinese skullcap) to help prevent PEM in this thread. In the thread he talks about taking 600 mg of ALA before exertion, and I think he said he took another dose afterwards, though I can't find that reference now. So several weeks ago I took 600 mg ALA early afternoon before going to do errands, and another 600 mg around 4:30 p.m. I didn't notice any boost in energy, but what I DID notice was that around 7:30 p.m I got very sleepy- this never happens! I rarely get sleepy period, much less at 7:30 p.m. I stayed up until 9:30 p.m. and fell quickly asleep, awoke 1 - 2 (my usual) but surprisingly was able to go back to sleep relatively quickly.
So I tried this again the next the day and had the night from hell, awake most of the night . . . so I scratched ALA, until several days ago when I realized that that horrific insomnia was almost certainly due to my newly resurfaced extreme sensitivity to MSG in all its iterations which I recently discovered. (almost any processed food has something like this in it - a jar of olives, things you think would be safe, but no - and I don't know why this sensitivity has resurfaced after being gone for 4 or 5 years, but it has
).
Anyways, so I tried the ALA again a couple of days ago, two extra doses early and later afternoon, and I think it's helping a little with sleep, though not like the first time I took this much. I've been taking 600 mg in two 300 mg doses in the a.m. for many years.
ALA might help with other aspects of sleep and not just circadian rhythms, or not, but I think it's worth exploring.
@Diwi9 , I thought you might find this interesting
Lipoic acid entrains the hepatic circadian clock and lipid metabolic proteins that have been desynchronized with advanced age - PMC (nih.gov)
I stumbled across ALA's potential effects on sleep after reading about how @msf used it (along with Chinese skullcap) to help prevent PEM in this thread. In the thread he talks about taking 600 mg of ALA before exertion, and I think he said he took another dose afterwards, though I can't find that reference now. So several weeks ago I took 600 mg ALA early afternoon before going to do errands, and another 600 mg around 4:30 p.m. I didn't notice any boost in energy, but what I DID notice was that around 7:30 p.m I got very sleepy- this never happens! I rarely get sleepy period, much less at 7:30 p.m. I stayed up until 9:30 p.m. and fell quickly asleep, awoke 1 - 2 (my usual) but surprisingly was able to go back to sleep relatively quickly.
So I tried this again the next the day and had the night from hell, awake most of the night . . . so I scratched ALA, until several days ago when I realized that that horrific insomnia was almost certainly due to my newly resurfaced extreme sensitivity to MSG in all its iterations which I recently discovered. (almost any processed food has something like this in it - a jar of olives, things you think would be safe, but no - and I don't know why this sensitivity has resurfaced after being gone for 4 or 5 years, but it has
Anyways, so I tried the ALA again a couple of days ago, two extra doses early and later afternoon, and I think it's helping a little with sleep, though not like the first time I took this much. I've been taking 600 mg in two 300 mg doses in the a.m. for many years.
ALA might help with other aspects of sleep and not just circadian rhythms, or not, but I think it's worth exploring.
@Diwi9 , I thought you might find this interesting