Inside the Mind of Deserusan

All too often in today’s society there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. Between commuting to work, trying to accelerate your career, spending quality time with your family, and fitting in a workout on a regular basis, there is one daily occurrence which all too often falls victim all this: sleep. The average American’s sleep duration and sleep efficiency has been on the decline since the 1990’s and some of the starkest decline has been between present day and the 1970’s according to an article in the July 2006 of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

If you are like me, you probably know you should get more sleep but it just isn’t happening. Fortunately, while you may not be able to augment your sleep duration there is the potential to increase your sleep efficiency.  Swiss researchers from the Universitaires de Genève conducted study using 32 participants from the Shiba Palace Clinic in Tokyo, Japan measuring the effects of AS1-casein tryptic decapeptide (Lactium) which is found in bovine casein derived from milk. The results of the study were published in The Open Sleep Journal this past June.

The primary parameters they assessed used a test called the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI-J) and encompassed sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, and daytime dysfunction. After 28 days of treatment they should a large decrease in the total PSQI-J scores compared to the placebo group. This effect continued a week after the treatment concluded. The most prevalent improvement revealed by the low PSQI-J scores was an improvement in sleep quality. Who wouldn’t want that right, especially since no side effects were observed in the treatment group.

It appears that Lactium has the ability to increase sleep quality due to it’s effect on relieving stress parameters in adults. Researchers concluded it’s to the peptide’s benzodiazepine-like activity on the GABA-A receptor. So what does this mean for you?

As the daily of stresses and requirements of daily life mount, often sleep quality and duration fall victim to it’s rigors. It seems that Lactium is another over the counter alternative to help those wishing to improve their sleep quality and stress levels. Believe it or not, this powerful peptide is released during enzymatic digestion of milk which in part, could account for the relaxing properties of warm milk in conjunction with its tryptophan and magnesium content.  Now it appears there is more and more research supporting the efficacy of Lactium in improving sleep quality and reducing stress.

Effects of a Bovine Alpha S1-Casein Tryptic Hydrolysate (CTH) on Sleep Disorder in Japanese General Population. The Open Sleep Journal. Saint-Hilaire Z, Messaoudi M, Desor D, Kobayashi T. 2009 Feb;(2):26-32 

To access the full study from the The Open Sleep Journal please click here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at 6:45 pm and is filed under Advanced Supplement Discussion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.