There's no set time of day that's best to take vitamin D supplements. Some people say taking vitamin D supplements at night is an insomnia risk. There's no research to confirm this, but you might want to take your supplement earlier in the day if you think it's screwing with your sleep.
Vitamin D and sleep: The surprising connection
Does vitamin D help you sleep better? Early research suggests it is inversely related to melatonin, your sleep hormone. Increasing vitamin D levels may suppress melatonin levels. So, it makes sense that taking it at night could disrupt your sleep.
In other words, there is no best time, and you can take it at any time of day that works best for your routine. Arsenault typically recommends clients take it first thing in the morning or right before going to bed so that they don't forget to take it—”consistency is key when supplementing.”
"While we found a significant correlation between vitamin D and sleepiness, the relationship appears to be more complex than we had originally thought," said David McCarty, MD, the study's principal investigator. "It's important to now do a follow-up study and look deeper into this correlation."
However, increasing vitamin D levels with supplements may suppress melatonin generation, leading to sleep disturbances. For this reason, people should take vitamin D supplements in the morning to replicate how the body synthesizes them from sunlight rather than taking them at night.
When to take vitamin D. It just plain doesn't matter, as long as you take it with food, says Dr. Manson. Her advice: Take it when you'll remember to take it — morning, noon or night — and take it with a meal, she says.
How Long Does It Take for Vitamin D to Work? If you have a vitamin D deficiency, you may notice improvements within 4-6 weeks of consistent supplementation. However, that timeframe can vary depending on what your baseline vitamin D levels are.
But if you're looking for a night of sound sleep and to maximize growth and repair, knowing the proper supplements and when to take them is vital. Magnesium, tryptophan, omega-3s, and vitamin B6 are all awesome additions to your nightly routine to help relax the body and lull you into the best sleep of your life.
According to the National Institutes of Health, vitamin D promotes calcium absorption in the gut and helps regulate the concentration of calcium and phosphorus in the blood, which supports building and maintaining healthy, strong bones and helps regulate skeletal and neuromuscular function.
In general, vitamin D may change how some body chemicals control blood pressure. The vitamin also seems to keep the lining of blood vessels flexible and healthy. If you have low vitamin D, your arteries can become stiff. This makes it harder for blood to flow.
Medical conditions that can cause vitamin D deficiency include: Cystic fibrosis, Crohn's disease and celiac disease: These conditions can prevent your intestines from adequately absorbing enough vitamin D through supplements, especially if the condition is untreated.
There are quite a few differences between vitamin D and vitamin D3, but the main difference between them is that vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that regulates calcium and phosphorous levels in the body, whereas the vitamin D3 is the natural form of vitamin D produced by the body from sunlight.
Vitamin D supplements should be taken along with the major meal of the day then whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Taking it with a fruit, tea, coffee, or in-between meals won't let the absorption happen,” she says.
Together with calcium, vitamin D also helps protect older adults from osteoporosis. Vitamin D has other roles in the body, including reduction of inflammation as well as modulation of such processes as cell growth, neuromuscular and immune function, and glucose metabolism [1-3].
A study found that higher serum vitamin D levels were associated with a reduced risk of weight gain in normal weight adults [10]. Another study reported that subjects who gained ≥5% weight had lower vitamin D levels than subjects who lost >5% weight [11].
Vitamin D and Anxiety. It seems that more scientists agree about the link between vitamin D deficiency and anxiety than depression. Though, some members of the scientific community are skeptical about how much it helps with anxiety. Regardless, multiple studies find that a vitamin D deficiency may increase anxiety.
Can you take vitamin D and magnesium together? Yes. In fact, it's probably best to take both together. Because so many people have low magnesium levels, vitamin D supplements on their own aren't very helpful for a large portion of the population.
Magnesium is a critical factor in making Vitamin D bioavailable. Without magnesium present, Vitamin D is stored in the body and not used. The body depends on magnesium to convert Vitamin D into its active form within the body.
Vitamin D. Several studies link vitamin D to sleep quality. Various research³ associates a lack of adequate vitamin D in your blood with a higher risk of poorer sleep quality. On the other hand, high doses of vitamin D consumption may be related to reducing melatonin⁴ levels, the hormone that controls your sleep cycle.
Taking vitamins when there's no food in your belly can cause stomach upset, says Becker. Don't make it part of your nightcap, either. Since most of the vitamins in a multivitamin help your body make energy, taking it too close to bedtime can keep you up at night.
B Complex Vitamins
I would discourage people from taking a B complex and instead get it from food sources. Especially since taking one before bed can keep you awake.
Don't take very high doses of vitamin D, as if you do this over a long period of time, it can cause too much calcium to build up in the body, which can weaken the bones and damage the kidneys and heart.