title: Effects of L-serine ingestion on human sleep.
abstract: To investigate the effects of L-serine intake on human sleep, we conducted two randomized double-blinded crossover studies. In Study 1, healthy subjects who were dissatisfied with their sleep were given L-serine or a placebo 30 min before going to bed. After waking the next morning, subjective sleep quality was rated using the Ogri-Shirakawa-Azumi subjective sleep rating scale. In Study 2, subjective sleep quality was rated using the St. Mary's Hospital sleep questionnaire, and objective parameters, including sleep initiation time, number of nighttime awakenings, and hours of sleep, were evaluated using actigraphy. In Study 1, factors related to "sleep initiation" and "sleep maintenance" during the L-serine intake period were significantly improved compared to the placebo intake period (p = 0.02 and p = 0.008, respectively). In Study 2, scores for "How well did you sleep last night?" and "How satisfied were you with last night's sleep?" were significantly better during L-serine intake compared to placebo (p = 0.04 and p = 0.03, respectively). Subjective evaluation of sleep quality on waking was thus improved. In addition, objective evaluation using actigraphy showed that the "number of nighttime awakenings" tended to be decreased (p = 0.08). These findings suggest that intake of L-serine before going to bed may improve human sleep.
authors.affiliation: Central Research Laboratory, FANCL CORPORATION, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 244-0806 Japan.
authors.forename: Yukihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Central Research Laboratory, FANCL CORPORATION, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 244-0806 Japan.
authors.forename: Satomi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Central Research Laboratory, FANCL CORPORATION, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 244-0806 Japan.
authors.forename: Manzhen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Central Research Laboratory, FANCL CORPORATION, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 244-0806 Japan.
authors.forename: Kohji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.affiliation: Sleep Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tennnodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8575 Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Satoh
keywords: Amino acid; Human sleep; L-serine