EK
Melatonin source
Melatonin content (ng/g)
Huang-qin
7,110
St. John’s wort, flower
4,390
Fever few, green leaf
2,450
Fever few, gold leaf
1,920
St. John’s wort, leaf
1,750
White mustard seed
189
Black mustard seed
129
Wolf berry seed
103
Fenugreek seed
43
Sunflower seed
29
Fennel seed
28
Alfalfa seed
16
Green cardamom seed
15
Tart cherry fruit (Montmorency)
15
Flax seed
12
Anise seed
7
Coriander seed
7
Celery seed
7
Poppy seed
6
Milk thistle seed
2
Tart cherry fruit (Balaton)
2
Melatonin source
Melatonin content [ng/g]
Feverfew, fresh leaf
> 1,300
Feverfew, dried leaf
>7,000
Almond seed
39
Pimpinella peregrina, dried root
38
Sunflower seed
29
Fennel seed
28
Lemon verbena, young plant
22
Balm mint, young plant
16
Green cardamom seed
15
Artcherry, Montmorency, fruit
15–18
Anise seed
7
Tall fescue seed
5
oat seed
1.8
Indian corn seed
1.3
Rice seed
1
Red radish root tuber
0.6
Japanese radish , stem and leaves
0.6
Tomato fruit
0.5
Ginger tuber
0.5
In using this chart keep in mind this is nanogram which means 1 billionth of a mg
So that implies a small amount—so in order to get any benefit from these sources you would have to consume them in adequate amounts st johns is 4,390 per gram 0r 1000-mgs so if you took 5 grams you would get over 2 mgs which is what the pill is usually between 1-3 miligrams
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Tryptophan (Trp) Content of Various Foods
Food↓
Protein
[g/100 g of food]↓
Tryptophan
[g/100 g of food]↓
Tryptophan/Protein [%]↓
egg, white, dried
81.10
1.00
1.23
spirulina, dried
57.47
0.93
1.62
cod, atlantic, dried
62.82
0.70
1.11
soybeans, raw
36.49
0.59
1.62
pumpkin seed
33.08
0.57
1.72
cheese, Parmesan
37.90
0.56
1.47
Caribou
29.77
0.46
1.55
sesame seed
17.00
0.37
2.17
cheese, cheddar
24.90
0.32
1.29
sunflower seed
17.20
0.30
1.74
pork, chop
19.27
0.25
1.27
Turkey
21.89
0.24
1.11
Chicken
20.85
0.24
1.14
Beef
20.13
0.23
1.12
Salmon
19.84
0.22
1.12
lamb, chop
18.33
0.21
1.17
perch, Atlantic
18.62
0.21
1.12
Egg
12.58
0.17
1.33
wheat flour, white
10.33
0.13
1.23
baking chocolate, unsweetened
12.9
0.13
1.23
Milk
3.22
0.08
2.34
rice, white
7.13
0.08
1.16
oatmeal, cooked
2.54
0.04
1.16
potatoes, russet
2.14
0.02
0.84
Stages of Sleep
Usually sleepers pass through five stages: 1, 2, 3, 4 and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. These stages progress cyclically from 1 through REM then begin again with stage 1. A complete sleep cycle takes an average of 90 to 110 minutes. The first sleep cycles each night have relatively short REM sleeps and long periods of deep sleep but later in the night, REM periods lengthen and deep sleep time decreases.
Stage 1 is light sleep where you drift in and out of sleep and can be awakened easily. In this stage, the eyes move slowly and muscle activity slows. During this stage, many people experience sudden muscle contractions preceded by a sensation of falling.
In stage 2, eye movement stops and brain waves become slower with only an occasional burst of rapid brain waves. When a person enters stage 3, extremely slow brain waves called delta waves are interspersed with smaller, faster waves. In stage 4, the brain produces delta waves almost exclusively. Stages 3 and 4 are referred to as deep sleep or delta sleep, and it is very difficult to wake someone from them. In deep sleep, there is no eye movement or muscle activity. This is when some children experience bedwetting, sleepwalking or night terrors. In 2008 the sleep profession in the US eliminated the use of stage 4. Stages 3 and 4 are now considered stage 3.
In the REM period, breathing becomes more rapid, irregular and shallow, eyes jerk rapidly and limb muscles are temporarily paralyzed. Brain waves during this stage increase to levels experienced when a person is awake. Also, heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, males develop erections and the body loses some of the ability to regulate its temperature. This is the time when most dreams occur, and, if awoken during REM sleep, a person can remember the dreams. Most people experience three to five intervals of REM sleep each night.
Infants spend almost 50% of their time in REM sleep. Adults spend nearly half of sleep time in stage 2, about 20% in REM and the other 30% is divided between the other three stages. Older adults spend progressively less time in REM sleep.
As sleep research is still a relatively young field, scientists did not discover REM sleep until 1953 when new machines were developed to monitor brain activity. Before this discovery it was believed that most brain activity ceased during sleep. Since then, scientists have also disproved the idea that deprivation of REM sleep can lead to insanity and have found that lack of REM sleep can alleviate clinical depression although they do not know why. Recent theories link REM sleep to learning and memory.
Stage
Frequency (Hz)
Amplitude (micro Volts)
Waveform type
awake
15-50
<50
pre-sleep
8-12
50
alpha rhthym
1
4-8
50-100
theta
2
4-15
50-150
splindle waves
3
2-4
100-150
spindle waves and slow waves
4
0.5-2
100-200
slow waves and delta waves
REM
15-30
<50
The waveform during REM has low amplitudes and high frequencies., just like the waking state. Early researchers actually called it “paradoxial sleep”.
According to the results of a study completed by Statistics Canada, the amount of sleep a person gets each night depends on a variety of factors, including gender, marital and employment statuses. More…
The functions of many organ systems are linked to the sleep cycle.
Endocrine system—Most hormone secretion is controlled by the circadian clock or in response to physical events. Sleep is one of the events that modify the timing of secretion for certain hormones. Many hormones are secreted into the blood during sleep. For example, scientists believe that the release of growth hormone is related in part to repair processes that occur during sleep. Follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone, which are involved in maturational and reproductive processes, are among the hormones released during sleep. In fact, the sleep-dependent release of luteinizing hormone is thought to be the event that initiates puberty. Other hormones, such as thyroid-stimulating hormone, are released prior to sleep.— Both sleep and circadian effects interact to produce the overall rhythmic pattern of the pituitary and pituitary-dependent hormones. Some of the 24-h hormonal rhythms depend on the circadian clock (ACTH, cortisol and melatonin), or are sleep related (prolactin and TSH). GH secretion is influenced by the first slow wave sleep (SWS) episode at the beginning of the night. Pulses of prolactin and GH are positively linked to increases in delta wave activity, i.e. deepest phases of sleep, occurring primarily during the first third of the night. Pulses of TSH and cortisol are related to superficial phases of sleep. As a result of the consolidation of the sleep period, the wake-sleep transition is associated with physiological changes with the endocrine system being part of the adaptive mechanism to reduce physical activity during sleep—-
Renal system—Kidney filtration, plasma flow, and the excretion of sodium, chloride, potassium, and calcium all are reduced during sleep. These changes cause urine to be more concentrated during sleep. —There is also sleep-related increase in plasma aldosterone levels; an increase in prolactin secretion. There is increased parathyroid hormone release during sleep, which may affect calcium excretion. In general, the following are reduced during sleep: glomerular filtration rate, renal plasma flow, filtration fraction, and the excretion of sodium, chloride, potassium, and calcium. Smaller quantities of more concentrated urine are excreted during NREM sleep than during wakefulness; during REM sleep urine excretion is reduced and concentrated to a greater extent than during NREM sleep.
Alimentary activity–In a person with normal digestive function, gastric acid secretion is reduced during sleep. In those with an active ulcer, gastric acid secretion is actually increased and swallowing occurs less frequently.