{"id":721568,"date":"2026-01-26T09:17:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T09:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/721568\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T09:17:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T09:17:24","slug":"does-vitamin-d-help-you-sleep-i-tried-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/721568\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Vitamin D Help You Sleep? I Tried It"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, I\u2019ll be trying sleeping tricks to see whether they actually improve my insomnia. Check back in on this series, Rest Assured<\/a>, to see how I get on.<\/p>\n

Because I have absolutely no trouble falling asleep, I didn\u2019t realise for years that my 3am wakeups actually constituted a form of insomnia (sleep maintenance insomnia<\/a>, to be precise). <\/p>\n

On average, I wake up in the middle of the night just under five times a week. I only return to sleep about a quarter of those times. <\/p>\n

So, I\u2019ve been trying everything from kiwis<\/a> to passionflower tea<\/a> to see whether they have any benefits. Both have stuck, but what about my now months-long habit of taking a daily vitamin D supplement daily? <\/p>\n

\"Vitamin<\/p>\n

Wait, does vitamin D help with sleep? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Some research suggests<\/a> it might, yes. <\/p>\n

We know that vitamin D deficiency, which the NHS warns<\/a> is common in the UK\u2019s gloomy climes from October to about March, appears to be a<\/a> \u201cforgotten aspect in sleep disorders\u201d. <\/p>\n

It may cause issues with both<\/a> sleep maintenance (staying asleep, which is my issue) and sleep regulation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s even been linked to obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), though that\u2019s a bit of a \u201cchicken and egg\u201d scenario \u2013 maybe OSA causes vitamin D deficiency, a 2024 paper said<\/a>, or maybe the lack of vitamin D raises OSA risk.<\/p>\n

Either way, a 2022 review and meta-analysis of studies<\/a> found that vitamin D supplementation seemed to be linked to better sleep quality. <\/p>\n

Another paper said <\/a>that vitamin D helps to create the sleep-regulating hormone melatonin and seems to help those with conditions like restless leg syndrome and OSA to get better sleep.<\/p>\n

So, how did it go? <\/strong><\/p>\n

In my previous attempts to conquer my insomnia, I gave science-backed \u201cfixes\u201d a go for a week. <\/p>\n

But it can take as long as two to three months<\/a> for the benefits of vitamin D to kick in (I\u2019ve been taking it for about six months).<\/p>\n

I will say that I\u2019ve noticed slight, but not life-changing, benefits to my sleep since then. I keep to a more consistent bedtime<\/a>, which is important for sleep regulation. <\/p>\n

And I haven\u2019t gotten as ill as I usually do in winter, which may be linked to the vitamin<\/a> (and, of course, indirectly affects my sleep<\/a>). <\/p>\n

There are some caveats with vitamin D supplementation, though. Vitamin D3 may do more for our immune system <\/a>than vitamin D2, and, per the NHS<\/a>, \u201cTaking too many vitamin D supplements over a long period of time can cause too much calcium to build up in the body (hypercalcaemia).\u201d <\/p>\n

10 micrograms a day (mcg) should be enough for most adults, they add, and we should never supplement more than 100mcg of vitamin D a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom about late March or early April to the end of September, the majority of people should be able to make all the vitamin D they need from sunlight on their skin,\u201d the health service added. <\/p>\n

For the winter months, however, I\u2019ve found it helpful. Sure, I\u2019ve noticed the benefits most in my immune system, but what I think might be a couple of positive sleep-related changes caused by the supplement are welcome too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year, I\u2019ll be trying sleeping tricks to see whether they actually improve my insomnia. Check back in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4318],"tags":[105,4434,215366,234,16,15,4448],"class_list":{"0":"post-721568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-rest-assured","11":"tag-sleep","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-vitamin-d"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115960653039987978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}