What Your Sleeping Difficulties May Be Trying to Tell You

If you experience occasional sleeplessness, taking vitamin B12 during the day may help you. Here's why.

B12 plays a vital role in melatonin production. Melatonin has been called "the sleep hormone" because it is responsible for letting you get a good night's sleep.

As you age, it becomes increasingly more difficult to get a good night's sleep because your body becomes less efficient at making this hormone. And that's why it's a good idea to take B12 to help you sleep like a baby each night.

Moreover, a vitamin B12 deficiency can have other consequences as well.

Do You or a Loved One Experience Any of the Following?

Not many know it, but you may need to supplement with vitamin B12, even if you eat foods rich in B12, if you experience:

• Tiredness and feelings of weakness.
• Less-than-optimal nervous system functioning.
• Less-than-optimal eye health.
• Loss of appetite and unintended weight loss.
• Occasional constipation and gas.
• Feelings of mild moodiness.
• Less-than-optimal memory.
• A tendency toward nervousness.
• Less-than-optimal balance.
• Less-than-optimal liver or heart health.
• Premature grey hair.
• Occasional digestive issues.

You can eat plenty of meat, poultry, lamb's liver, brewer's yeast, clams, eggs, herring, mackerel, kidneys, milk, dairy products or seafood – and still have low levels of B12. How can that be?

It could be because your body is unable to absorb it from your gut. You see B12 needs the help of a protein in order to be absorbed. That protein is called intrinsic factor. And because the lining of your stomach makes intrinsic factor, people with less-than-optimal gastrointestinal health often need to supplement with B12.

Likewise, most people older than 50 have a limited ability to absorb B12, too. Thus, the need for supplementation.