Glycine and REM / Non-REM Sleep

I have suffered from sleep disturbances/fragmented sleep/poor deep sleep continuity for 8 years now, and have tried everything under the sun.

 

After having done some cursory research, Glycine came up as a possible solution to address poor deep sleep.

 

Last night, I took 3 grams before going to bed, and felt considerably worse this morning, more so than normal.

 

When I checked my sleep monitoring app (I wear a Huawei fitness tracker), I saw that my sleep quality score was 77 (low), and my REM sleep was high (31%).

 

Despite my My Deep Sleep score being 24% and falling within the "normal" parameters, my Deep Sleep continuity was 68 points (this is always low, anywhere between the 50's and 60's, hence why I'm always tired).

 

This might have been a one-off as this was my first night on Glycine, so will try again tonight and maybe tomorrow as well, just to give it a chance.

 

However, is there anyone who could possibly clarify as to whether Glycine improves REM or Non-REM (deep sleep), as some of the stuff I've been researching seems to be contradictory.

 

Also, if anyone knows of any supplement I could take which could improve my deep sleep continuity, I'd be eternally grateful!

 

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

 

Sleepy_Head 

 

Sleep Tracker screenshots: https://bit.ly/2DKrYxq

Edited by Sleepy_Head, 08 August 2020 - 10:01 AM.

In the past when I experimented with glycine before bed I had poor sleep quality and many nightmares. I’m only experimenting with it again now in combination with NAC and selenium to try and increase my glutathione levels.

However since experimenting with selenium the last 4 days, I don’t have any daytime tiredness and I can easily awake when my alarm clock goes off in the morning (and also my libido has skyrocketed).

So I can’t tell you how glycine is effecting my sleep now because I started it around the same time as selenium. But I will say I found studies that show selenium deficiency are associated with difficulty falling asleep quicker, sleep apnea, and snoring, all of which I suffer from. However because it’s revved up my thyroid it feels like it’s too soon for me to tell whether I’m actually sleeping better, or I just seem to be tolerating less sleep better, as I’m not suffering from daytime tiredness anymore.

Oh and another thought is could glycine be reducing your selenium further? I say this because NAC, glutamine, and glycine are used to make glutathione by an enzyme which selenium is needed to create. The only reason I started taking selenium in th first place was because of a reddit comment saying it should be taken if your supplementing NAC. And I was supplementing NAC along with a myriad of other supplements before I got hit with the coronavirus, and it hit me hard, even though I was covering most my essential nutrients. Now that there’s a study which shows a clear link between selenium deficiency and covid 19 severity, I think I depleted my selenium prior and during it with my regular NAC intake, hence why I suffered with it twice as long as my wife did, even though I was taking many essential nutrients to try and combat it. So by taking glycine you could be further depleting your selenium levels and making your sleep worse, was the point I was trying make.

Also we are from the same country, so it could be our food supply as opposed to a personal case. I even found a study on British people and selenium supplementation which helped improve a myriad of things for them (can’t remember what exactly, maybe mood and depression).

Regardless if you’re interested in trying it for sleep, I can recommend life extension super selenium complex from amazon. Just make sure you take it in the morning.

Edited by Jesus is King, 09 August 2020 - 11:11 PM.

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Thank you for for taking the time in responding to my post Jesus is King, and for the advice given. I am at that stage now where I'm willing to try anything.

 

I know for a fact my issue is with deep sleep continuity/broken sleep, this is something which did not start naturally, there was a cause behind it, so it would not have been due to any environmental factors.

 

I'll do some further research on selenium and see how I get on, who knows it might improve my deep sleep!

 

Thank you once again.

I’ve just bought some more selenium but as 50mcg doses. I’ve taken 2 this morning for 100mcg. 200mcg of selenium got rid of daytime tiredness, felt great on it, high libido, but was also a little too stimulating, I think it ramped up my thyroid production a bit too much. So I’d recommend starting low. 

 

As for glycine, I can confirm this gives me insomnia. The day I took glycine late, I couldn’t fall asleep for the life of me. From now on I’ll be taking my glycine with the rest of my morning stack.

This was really interesting to read because my REM sleep is often quite high (30+ percent) and I also take Glycine nightly. But, I feel great taking it, even longterm. I will take some days off and see what happens and let ya know.

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Update - I have been off of Glycine for a while as I ran out and my sleep REM amounts have not changed. For me, it does not seem related.