Getting Deeper, Higher Quality Sleep with an Essential Nutrient

In the United States, more than 1 in 3 adults are sleep-deprived. It is probably safe to assume that 3 out of 3 people reading this article aren't getting enough sleep.

As part of a healthy regimen, it is just as important to get a good night’s sleep as it is to exercise routinely and eat a healthy diet. Many of us have difficulty sleeping well, and poor sleep can negatively affect our thinking, emotions, and physical health.

Let’s talk about which parts of sleep are most important to our health, what receptors in our brain regulate those parts, and how fatty15 can help improve your quality of sleep to help you wake up feeling more refreshed.*

Components of sleep & changes with aging

While you may already know that you need around 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night, did you know that getting high quality sleep is critical, too?

High quality sleep, consisting of complete sleep cycles, allows our brains and bodies to recuperate and develop. In general, we have multiple stages of sleep that should occur throughout every night, with each full cycle lasting about 90 minutes. The four sleep cycles are as follows:

• Stage 1. This is the time when you are transitioning from awake mode to sleep mode.
• Stage 2. During this stage, everything slows down. Your muscles are relaxed, and your breathing and heart rate slows. About half of your night is spent in Stage 2 sleep. 
• Stage 3, Slow-Wave or Deep Sleep. This is a critical restorative stage which allows your body to recover. In addition to bolstering your immune system and general health, this stage can also be important to protecting your memory, insightful thinking, and creativity.
• Stage 4, REM sleep. Stage 4 sleep is also important for your memory, learning and creativity.

Unfortunately, our sleep quality - especially our Stage 3 Deep Sleep - can be negatively impacted as we age. In fact, we are more likely to develop insomnia as we get older. This can result in difficulty remembering things, trouble focusing, and reduced decision-making skills.

How can we protect our high-quality sleep, especially our restorative deep sleep?

Role of PPARs in supporting deep sleep

We have receptors throughout our bodies and brain called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (or PPARs, pronounced pee-pars). There are three types of PPARs called alpha, delta, and gamma. In addition to regulating our immunity, metabolism, mood and appetite, PPARs also help to regulate our sleep. Here’s how:

• PPARs play an important role as regulators of our circadian rhythm and sleep homeostasis. When our circadian rhythm is healthy, our master-clock helps to tell our body when to sleep and when to be alert. When our circadian rhythm is off, our sleep cycles are off, too, resulting in poor quality sleep. PPARs, especially PPAR alpha, help to keep our sleep clocks working well.
• Molecules that activate PPAR alpha have been shown to effectively increase slow-wave (or deep) sleep. As such, PPAR alpha activation may enhance deep sleep and improve resistance to sleep loss.

Are there ways to naturally activate PPAR alpha receptors to improve my sleep?

Fatty15 PPAR alpha activation to improve sleep

Fatty15 is a once daily dietary supplement containing a pure, powder form of C15:0 (FA15^TM). C15:0 (also called pentadecanoic acid) is an odd-chain saturated fatty acid present in trace levels in butter and other whole fat dairy products, as well as some fish and plants.

Unlike even-chain saturated fatty acids (like C16:0) that have long been associated with poor health, odd-chain saturated fatty acids (like C15:0) have been repeatedly associated with good health. In fact, growing evidence supports that C15:0 is the first essential fatty acid to be discovered in 90 years.†

Our studies have shown that fatty15 naturally activates PPAR alpha with C15:0 concentrations that can be achieved with fatty15’s single 100 mg per day dose.†* As such, in addition to helping regulate our immunity, metabolism, mood, and appetite, fatty15 can also help improve our quality of sleep by getting our circadian clock back up and running and regaining our deep, restorative sleep.

Fatty15 consumer feedback

Of survey respondents, 7 out of 10 consumers reported having slept better and/or waking up feeling more refreshed within 6 weeks after taking daily fatty15. Here’s what some consumers have shared about how fatty15 has helped to improve their sleep quality.*

• "My sleep in general is improved and I’m more alert well into the evening. I’m especially energetic in the morning we’ll into mid-day."
• "The biggest differences I have felt are better sleep and less snacky."
• "The most important benefits to me are both the reduced snacking and more restful sleep. The more restful sleep speaks for itself - wake up more refreshed and continues through the day!"
• "Very impressed with the sustained improvements in sleep, energy and stress."
• "I’m sleeping better, I’ve lost weight without trying and I feel both more relaxed and more energetic."
• "My husband and I started taking fatty15 and within a week or so we noticed a few changes. Our sleep has improved and during this time I didn't think we would ever experience good sleep again."
• "Energy levels are high, I've reduced my snacking and I've been sleeping better than ever."

If you are looking for ways to improve the quality of your sleep while also wanting to support your general health, consider taking fatty15.*

Read the science 

For a summary of peer-reviewed and published science on C15:0 (pentadecanoic acid), including our studies in Scientific Reports demonstrating C15:0 as a natural PPAR activator and papers discussing the role of PPAR ligands in improving deep wave sleep, please click here.