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[–]Fred_Flintstone 9 points10 points  (2 children)

Gwern goddamit you are one of the few people on the internet I feel a real bond to. Your site is one of the greatest altruistic contributions to any online community I have ever seen. I've read the whole thing a few times. I must make a donation to you when my next paycheck comes in.

May I ask; what is your Myers-Briggs personality type? (I bet you are an ESTP, but may be wrong). I just looked mine up the other day and found it useful to know; I perfectly fit into a category, and have been told explicitly what my strengths and weaknesses are. A self-improvement junky such as yourself may find similar benefits.

Keep doing what you do, we all love you for it.

[–]gwerngwern.net[S] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

May I ask; what is your Myers-Briggs personality type? (I bet you are an ESTP, but may be wrong)

My reading has soured me on MBTI; I prefer Big Five: http://gwern.net/Links#personality

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I only take 3-4 supplements and one of them is vitamin D before I sleep. -_-

Will change that pronto. I will also take that test thank you very much.

[–]Burrigan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Vitamin D is one of the few supplements I take. Stopped taking it any later than the afternoon because I was getting the sense it made my sleep much less restful.

Nice to see someone that took that sense further and got some data... Thanks!

[–]00000000000000000000 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Have u thought of testing zma?

[–]gwerngwern.net[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Never heard of it; just some vitamins isn't it?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd be actually pretty interested in this as ZMA's muscle building benefits are iffy, other than the fact it makes you sleep like a rock. Most people notice this effect, it's pretty strong.

[–]00000000000000000000 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ZMA ® was the first product developed specifically to enhance recovery by improving sleep efficiency. ZMA promotes a deep and restful sleep and restores exercise tolerance which is decreased by sleep deprivation. A University research study also found ZMA to significantly increase free and total testosterone levels in trained athletes.

http://www.nutrabio.com/Products/zma.htm

[–]its4thecatlol 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What a TERRIBLE article. The sample size is pitifully small and the data extremely prone to swings. Sleep? Think of how many things can disrupt it.

Drawing any serious conclusions from this woeful set of data, let alone a PSA?, is ridiculous.

[–]gravyleaves 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Was about to say that vitamin D actually seemed to cure my sleep apnea. The article does support that taking it in the morning helps sleep. Now I just need to resist reaching for the gummies at night

[–]pbourdyk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Off topic, but your site has a plethora of interesting information... Definitely need to add this to my list of things to read.

Moreover, your interest and contributions in software (Haskell in particular) further pique my curiosity due to being a sw dev heavily influenced by functional programming buffs (through work in grad school).

Kudos.

[–]gwerngwern.net[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The followup for morning: http://gwern.net/Zeo#vitamin-d-at-morn-helps

[–]dylarx 0 points1 point  (5 children)

I take it every night without a problem. Of course, I only take 400. Why the hell do people take 5000 IU when the RDA is < 1000 IU?

On a side note, i've heard anecdotally that it can enhance dreams, but I've never tried this.

[–]Speed_Reader 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I won't comment on 5k, but 400 is quite low. RDA is "a daily intake that is sufficient to maintain bone health and normal calcium metabolism in healthy people", and may not be optimal.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vitamin-d/

Ideally you would take a blood test, as requirements vary. For example, people with darker skin generate less vitamin D.
btw: a 3.5-ounce serving of wild fresh salmon has 600 to 1,000 I.U.’s of vitamin D.

[–]oooeeeoooahhahh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

During the fall/winter/spring months in Chicago I need to supplement with 4000iu daily or my blood tests show my Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy levels falling below 30 ng/mL. I prefer to keep it between 60 and 80.

The RDA is shit.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Well, if it causes less-deep sleep then that could be the mechanism by which it enhances dreams. Most dreams occur during lighter sleep stages, especially REM.

[–]gwerngwern.net[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, if it causes less-deep sleep then that could be the mechanism by which it enhances dreams.

Seems unlikely. If you look at the analysis, you'll see that REM sleep fell by 5 minutes, and this was significant at p=0.022.