It’s National Relaxation Day. Studies have shown that lavender promotes calm without risk of dependence, tolerance, or withdrawal. I grow some in a pot outside the back door, where I can grab a quick pinch and inhale its fresh oil as I pass by.
While hiking offers me the best relaxation for a busy mind, as I embark on an especially hectic day in the office, I lean on supplements (in several forms, not always pills and capsules) for relaxation and focus.
Supplements are not always in the form of pills / capsules
Often a diffuser is running to scent the air with food-grade lavender oil on my desktop and also in the bathroom.
Vitruvi Stone Essential Oil Diffuser
Having suffered from stress-related memory issues in the past, I’ve begun using brain echo technology to help relax, rebalance and reset my brain. I’ll be writing about some of the devices I’ve tried for cognitive biohacking soon.
The frugal and environmentally conscious recycle cotton packing materials as a beauty supply.
One of the many things I appreciate about Life Extension brand supplements is the 100% cotton padding material found in each bottle.
Not only does cotton have a job protecting its container’s contents, but it offers a gift for the frugal and environmentally conscious. Upon opening, I make sure to place my fresh wad of cotton in a bathroom apothecary dispenser, re-using pieces torn from it for applications of witch hazel astringent toner at the end of my day.
Of course, the bottle (and its cap) are recyclable too. When I’m choosing between two brands similar in terms of quality and price, my ability to re-cycle in this way is always my tie-breaker.
Thanks, Life Extension, for helping us save the planet and money at the same time.
We are assessing the performance of our site to deliver the first smart app to help you manage your vitamin & dietary supplement routine. This will involve transitioning to new technology, and we look forward to unveiling the result soon.
In the meantime, you are invited to tour Amlia as a guest to learn how it will work to help you simplify your supplement routine.
Amlia is a new app and website specialized for the unique needs of supplement users. If you take a number of supplements, you already know that keeping to your routine and reporting what you are doing to your healthcare provider can be complicated, confusing and cumbersome.
Solving the problem of supplement routine overwhelm, Amlia helps you to organize:
• the products you take
• with reminders sent to your mobile device
• your shopping list
• a place for note-keeping
• and share what you’re doing with others by email.
If you’re like me, you prefer to look around without providing personal details such as your email address and certainly never share payment information before making a decision. For this reason, we offer a GUEST area.
As a guest, you can explore the app to see how it works. Please note: you must be logged out of a individual account if you have established one because the guest area cannot be accessed from the iOS or Android app. Use this link from your browser:
The FDA regulates vitamins and dietary supplements, and has issued a warning to the manufacturer of the Kavinace product saying that a key ingredient is “misbranded.” What will consumers who rely on this product do without it?
Sleepless without the right supplement
If you are a Kavinace user, by now you realize that this product is nowhere to be found. This is not exactly true, as an enterprising eBay reseller is offering bottles for $510 each while supplies last. A dietary supplement made by NeuroScience Inc., Kavinace is said to increase GABA levels and has been widely used for insomnia and anxiety. I’ve heard many personal stories about what a game-changer this product has been, and I’ve used it myself when nothing else worked to help me get a good night’s sleep.
The label’s “Supplement Facts” show the primary ingredient as a “proprietary blend” of the amino acid taurine and 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid HCl with 2mg of vitamin B6. If you have ever taken vitamin B6 and taurine to help with sleep (as I do), you may have found that these ingredients, even when taken at identical dosing, are ineffective. It was the NeuroScience’s proprietary blend that made Kavinace almost magically effective, and now one of the ingredients is under attack by the FDA. The company states on its website that the Kavinace product is currently unavailable and is being “reformulated.”
Supplement Facts, Kavinace back of label and 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid HCl molecule structure, courtesy of PubChem
According to the FDA, the molecular structure 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid, (figure a) is also known by these names:
According to the FDA, products such as Kavinace are “misbranded” because 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid HCl is represented as a dietary ingredient when it does not meet the statutory definition. In the US, vitamins and dietary supplements are defined and regulated by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. In a warning letter sent to NeuroScience on April 10, 2019 referencing Phenibut, the company was given fifteen days to respond. The substance is not on is not listed on the Food and Drug Administration’s Dietary Supplement Ingredient advisory list.
A synthetic amino acid, Phenibut does not occur naturally. Created in the 1960’s in the Soviet Union (figure b) by adding a phenyl group to the Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) molecule, the resulting compound is called 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid HCl. This compound, an ingredient in Kavinace’s “proprietary blend,” is able to cross the blood-brain barrier together with the amino acid taurine. In this way, taurine is enabled to activate GABA receptors in the brain, possibly increase GABA synthesis, block GABA reuptake so that it can perform neural calming functions and prevent GABA breakdown.
Article courtesy of ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid HCl can cause dependence when taken regularly, which means that people who use it and then stop taking it may experience withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms can include trouble sleeping, decreased appetite, nausea, muscle aches, anxiety and agitation. New Zealand recently considered the classification of Phenibut as a matter of public health. It is reported to interact with and accentuate the effects of tranquilizers and narcotics, causing possibly dangerous results.
What the FDA enforcement action against NeuroScience means for consumers is that while the ingredients in Kavinace worked for many, the product is no longer available, and consumers are left to seek out a replacement. A naturopath in my local pharmacy has told me that people are struggling as they seek a solution. Will Neuroscience’s reformulation work as well as the original? Could it be that the FDA action paving the way for drug approval of this substance and increased profitability by some drug company?
Unfortunately, without Phenibut, the Kavinace product will not be as effective. This product has been one of the mainstays in my dietary supplement toolkit to help me sleep soundly, and I’m sorry to lose access to it. Worried about losing my ability to get a full night’s sleep, I hunted for alternatives.
I was able to track down a replacement product containing the same ingredients as Kavinace (including phenibut), but found it to be much more potent, the result being an unpleasant “drugged” feeling for several hours in the morning.
Preparing for inevitable loss, I tapered my Kavinace doses while researching how to replace this favorite product. I tried a trusted brand’s neurotransmitter support product containing niacin, vitamin-B6, magnesium, GABA, glycine, taurine, inositol and valerian. To my disappointment, the formulation did absolutely nothing to help the quality or quantity of my sleep.
What seems to be working best for the moment has been to re-balance my circadian rhythm and take minerals along with a non-essential amino acid which has been studied for stress and sleep quality. I began using a LYS wearable device a few weeks ago and quickly observed the value of getting into direct sunlight within 30 minutes of waking.
Now I prepare for bed with a cup of camomile tea, 300 mg L-magnesium threonate, 1,500 mg L-Ornithine, and 30 mg zinc with 4 mg copper (as glycinate), keeping in mind (but sometimes failing) to avoid eating within 3 hours of bedtime and avoiding blue light from digital devices. The result is that my circadian pattern has returned to its natural 5:15 am wake up time after a night of uninterrupted sleep – success!
camomile tea at bedtime for sleep
We’re all hearing about AI and machine learning these days. My personal sleep experimentation effort has reinforced a goal of enhancing Amlia to collect data about the uses and effects of supplement products for the larger good. If you choose to share data, the app would collect and anonymize information about you (age, height, weight, gender, health conditions, etc.) and the supplements you’re taking, along with observed results and side effects to facilitate predictive analysis. This represents an opportunity to leverage big data about vitamin and supplement use to answer the question: “is this supplement working for others like me?”
If you’ve found a routine or supplement works for your sleep, please share your experience here in the comments section.
