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How does zinc help with sleep?

Zinc doesn't seem to trigger sleep, but adequate levels of zinc in the blood shorten the time it takes to fall asleep (sleep latency), increase the overall amount of sleep, and assure sleep quality and efficiency (time spent asleep when in bed).

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It is a measure of the mystery of sleep that despite extraordinarily sophisticated research tools, scientists are still trying to figure out how this most basic of biological functions comes about. All animals sleep. And they fall apart if they don't. Human beings chronically deprived of sleep are subject to cardiovascular disease, metabolic disruption leading to obesity and diabetes, immune malfunction, and mental disorders from depression to Alzheimer's disease. Sleeping too little (or too much) shortens lifespan. The body restores and heals itself during sleep. Memory consolidates. But what triggers sleep and what keeps it going? Researchers were recently surprised to discover that the mineral zinc seems to be an essential part of the process. The second most abundant trace mineral in the human body—after iron—zinc is a cofactor in more than 300 enzymes and 1,000 transcription factors that carry out genetic instructions. Zinc is essential for bone growth, prostate health and male fertility, taste perception, wound healing, and cognitive function. In the brain, the micronutrient modulates neural transmission and neural plasticity. It is also necessary for neurogenesis, notably in the hippocampus, essential to the acquisition and storage of memory. And now, researchers find, zinc also regulates sleep. It's not clear how, but it seems to abet slow-wave sleep, the nondreaming, deep sleep of physical restoration and memory consolidation. Zinc doesn't seem to trigger sleep, but adequate levels of zinc in the blood shorten the time it takes to fall asleep (sleep latency), increase the overall amount of sleep, and assure sleep quality and efficiency (time spent asleep when in bed). In 2009, researchers examining 890 healthy residents of Jinan, China, discovered that serum zinc levels varied with the amount of sleep subjects got, and those with the highest concentrations of zinc were those sleeping a normal 7 to 9 hours a night. Since then, a number of other studies in different populations have linked optimal sleep time to high levels of zinc. But cross-sectional studies can show only correlation. Longitudinal studies add evidence of causation. In a study of 1,295 young children followed for nine years, other researchers in China found that adolescents with higher blood zinc concentrations were more likely to have normal sleep quality—significant because up to 70 percent of adolescents worldwide report disturbed sleep-wake patterns. As zinc concentrations increased, the likelihood of insufficient sleep and sleep disturbances decreased. Among preschool-age children, low blood zinc levels predicted an increase in the likelihood of poor sleep quality and poor sleep efficiency in adolescence. Zinc status in early life may have a particularly long-lasting effect on sleep regulation.

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Evidence has been accruing from other studies as well. An analysis of nutritional data from 5,000 Americans shows that those who sleep the least consume significantly less zinc than normal or long sleepers. And zinc supplements, typically combined with other nutrients, given to varied groups significantly improved their sleep time and sleep quality. But so far, the most convincing evidence that zinc, consumed in food or supplement, is a sleep modulator comes from a Japanese study of mice fed a yeast extract fortified with either zinc or other minerals. Only the zinc-fed mice experienced a "drastic reduction" in movement at sleep time, and electrical brain recordings showed an increase in the amount of high-quality slow-wave sleep. The researchers believe that once a certain blood level of zinc is reached, it crosses into the brain and activates signaling pathways to promote sleep. "Our data," they say, "open the way to new types of food supplements designed to improve sleep."