Want quality sleep? Reach for the zinc

Zinc is the 2nd most abundant trace element in the human body.  It reduces stress, improves the quality of your sleep, and regrows your thymus to its original size. 

Further, 

in this same period, the thymuses of these mice had quadrupled in size and exhibited a greatly enlarged cortex repopulated with immature thymocytes

For years, I was under the impression that magnesium was the go-to mineral for the biological ravages of stress.  And I am sure that magnesium is still good for treating that.  But more recently, in the last couple of years, I've learned first-hand that zinc is even better.  After a simple Google search of "stress and zinc," the first entry produced this, 

Zinc plays a significant role with respect to the stress response.  Proper maintenance of zinc status can help to stabilize serum cortisol levels over time,¹ and zinc intake has been shown to temporarily inhibit cortisol secretions. However, in turn, prolonged stress will deplete zinc concentrations in the blood.

That article goes on to say that

Zinc is required for the catalytic activity of approximately 100 enzymes. 

Magnesium is involved in even more--over 300 chemical interactions in your body.

Zinc plays a role in immune function, protein synthesis, wound healing, DNA synthesis, and cell division. Zinc supports normal growth and development during pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence, and zinc is necessary for proper sense of taste and smell. 

So if you find that your sense of taste and smell diminishing, reach for the supplemental zinc. 

Given that the body has no specialized zinc storage system, regular daily zinc intake is required to maintain a steady state and to prevent deficiency.

That was interesting because I think that homeostasis leaves us with the impression that we're all doing okay; meaning, that it's hard to tell, hard to know if we're deficient.  And you're never going to have a doctor tell you that you're deficient in zinc.  Ever. 

I remember the first time that I ever took supplemental zinc how it completely relaxed me and put me in a great mood for a good night's sleep.  This was about 3 years ago.  In fact, now I prefer to take zinc rather than melatonin for sleep. Note well, that 

Sleeplessness has a huge impact on the human physiology and is commonly associated with metabolic disorders (obesity and diabetes), cardiovascular diseases (hypertension) and mental disorders (anxiety and depression). 

So if you're looking for quality hours of sleep, reach for the . . . well, you know what to reach for--the zinc, of course. 

The first paragraph in this article states that

Recent research has concluded that zinc serum concentration varies with the amount of sleep, while orally administered zinc increases the amount and the quality of sleep in mice and humans.

Melatonin is a decent sleep-aid and has excellent anti-oxidant properties to boot, but so does zinc.  Melatonin does lower your blood pressure.  If you have high blood pressure like I have had a few times, then melatonin would be a good choice.  But zinc relaxes more functions in your body, I believe.  

Important to know [in the Introduction] is that 

Zinc is the second most abundant trace metal in the human body and is essential for many biological processes.

WHAT TYPE OF ZINC IS BEST?

That depends. 

Zinc lozenges are made with zinc acetate, so if you've got a cold then you'll want zinc lozenges. [I tend to trust Bill Sardi's recommendations, so I buy his zinc lozenges product.] Zinc lozenges are what you should be giving your children, er, grandchildren when they have a cough, not a cough drop which is mainly sugar and provides only a short-lived placebo effect.  Know, too, that zinc regrows your thymus gland back to its original size, which I find absolutely miraculous.  The thymus gland has a tendency to shrink through the years.  Read this, 

After the deficient mice had been fed a zinc-adequate diet for 1 week, their response was nearly normal, except that the indirect response was 68% of controls; in this same period, the thymuses of these mice had quadrupled in size and exhibited a greatly enlarged cortex repopulated with immature thymocytes [my emphasis as if you couldn't tell].  By 2 weeks, the thymuses of the previously zinc-deficient mice were normal in size and appearance; however, there was a slight increase in the numbers of indirect plaque-forming cells. By 4 weeks, the thymus weights, direct and indirect plaque-forming cell counts, and the secondary response of the previously deficient mice were normal. Mice that were nearly athymic after 45 days of dietary zinc deficiency were also able to fully reconstruct the thymus and regenerate T-cell helper function.

It's been argued that the brand name Optizinc is the most absorbable.  May be true.  If you're deficient in zinc and have never supplemented with it, then the Optizinc will surely improve your sense of well-being.  Keep a bottle of zinc lozenges around the house in case of a cold or any lung issues.  Lately, I've really appreciated Bill Sardi's zinc product, called T-Cell Zinc.  If you accidentally overeat at a party (remember those?), reach for the zinc.  We overeat in response to stress, and then overeating causes our bodies stress.  So any stressful event, reach for the zinc.  

The benefits of zinc are remarkable.  OptiZinc reduces acne by 50%.  So there's that.  Acne may be due to bodily stress of a teenager.  Zinc Carnosine treats intestinal ulcers.  Even Wikipedia understands this.