These days more and more people are suffering from sleep disorders, the health sleep foundation says that every 1 in 3 people exhibit signs of mild insomnia and 10% suffer from a daytime functional impairment that is usually caused due to sleep deprivation. CDC statistics as well show that more than 75% of Americans aged between 20 to 60 years experience regular sleeping difficulties.
Sleeping pills are typically not considered good for health and people suffering from insomnia and related problems are recommended against them. After all, a person already going through sleeping problems would not like to add another one which might be the side effects of sleeping medications on top of that, also they will create a state of dependency on the medication for the patient.
So the question arises, what are hemp seeds and how do they help?
What Are Hemp Seeds?
Hemp and cannabis are commonly confused with each other and while they do belong to the same Cannabaceae plant family, the two plants are totally different. Hemp does not contain any amount of THC, the compound that is the main cause of euphoria felt after intaking cannabis.
Hemp plants are usually cultivated for their industrial use and are available in the market as forms of oil, fibers, and seeds. It is due to its high nutritional value that hemp seeds are now considered a superfood. They are a great source of vitamin E, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, Iron, and Zinc. They are also rich in omega-3 and omega-6, the two essential fatty acids that can be difficult for vegetarians to obtain through a normal diet.
How Does Hemp Help With Sleep?
Research has evidenced the presence of melatonin in various hemp varieties. Melatonin is the sleep hormone produced during the night by our pineal gland which regulates our body clock and sleep patterns. People suffering from sleep disorders are prescribed a synthetic version of melatonin. Recent studies have demonstrated that hemp seeds contain higher concentrations of melatonin than their aerial parts.
As stated earlier, hemp seeds are rich in magnesium. It is an essential macro-mineral that our bodies do not produce, thus we are left with no choice but to obtain it through our diet. Over 300 different enzyme reactions in our body involve magnesium and thus it plays a vital role in many bodily processes. The deficiency of magnesium along with many other symptoms also exhibits insomnia. Bringing your magnesium back to healthy levels is a great way to ensure a good night’s sleep. Other benefits include relief from back pain, headaches, and fibromyalgia symptoms, as well as mood-stabilizing and anxiety reduction.
Hemp seed oil is sourced from hemp seeds and it is also a great help in fixing sleep quality.
The high amounts of Omega 3 and 6 are known to reduce inflammation along with improvement in quality of sleep. The presence of the full spectrum of 21 amino acids and all eight B vitamins plays a part in this as well as the combination of acid I-tryptophan and vitamin B6 will make for the precursor for melatonin. The thing is, B6 triggers the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin and your body then converts it into melatonin. This suggests that they can certainly be used as a considerable food source to aid in distorted sleeping patterns.
There are various ways through which you can incorporate hemp seeds into your diet. The most popular trend right now is using them as a topping in salads and smoothies. Moreover, you could also add them to your homemade dips such as guacamole or hummus.
These are all reasons how one can link hemp seeds to be beneficial for someone experiencing irregular sleeping patterns, yet the link is not clear. In other words, there are yet to quote any trustworthy studies regarding this relation. The amount of research done on this topic is not adequate enough to confidently state that intaking hemp seeds will fix your sleeping problems.
It is mostly due to the fact that hemp is rich in magnesium that we can consider them to work efficiently, still, studies have shown that possible benefits have limitations and thus it becomes impossible to assert definitely that consuming hemp seed in any form can be of great help in the case of insomnia.
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