Taurine and Alcohol-Impaired Sleep

Taurine and Alcohol-impaired sleep. Even clients who just enjoy one drink in the evening may find it impairs their sleep, esp. as we age. Alcohol induces sleepiness by increasing the action of GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, in the brain and blocks the action of glutamate, a stimulatory neurotransmitter. This is how alcohol mellows our thinking. And perhaps makes it easier to *go* to sleep. The problem is that this affect wears off after a few hours and rebounds, promoting higher levels of glutamate, a stimulatory neurotransmitter. So people may wake up 2-3 hours after falling asleep and only sleep fitfully afterward. A simple solution is the amino acid taurine. For adults, 1000mg taurine taken at bedtime helps to increase GABA receptor binding and will reduce the effects of rebound in the middle of the night. The impact? Likely a deeper, more restful night of sleep. Perhaps stopping the cycle of stress that makes a client feel like they want a drink every evening? A great way to wildly satisfy a client early on. Because Nobody likes having a poor night of sleep! If you want to know more sleep solutions: https://schoolafm.com/ws_clinical_know/sleep-remedies-that-work-neurotransmitter-and-hormones/

I hope this quick clinical tip serves you and your patients and clients.

Warmly,

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Ryan

For some reason taurine gives me ruminating thoughts. Can Gaba supplements be used as the same purpose of increasing gaba reducing glutamate? Thank you!

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SAFM Team

Reply to  Ryan

To your point, each person is unique and can have distinct reactions to certain supplements, and often times a little bit of experimentation is worth the potential benefit. We always recommend working with a functional medicine trained/certified practitioner to get to the root cause of the potentially poor GABA synthesis or sensitivity in the brain.
Taurine is an amino acid that can bind to type A of GABA receptors but not type B. GABA itself binds to both types. Here is a comprehensive review on oral supplementation with GABA and its effect on sleep and stress: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7527439/

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