Wow, almost any supplement could be considered a happy one. I have noticed that when I take a strong B vitamin, sometimes I feel like I’ve had one too many cups of coffee. When I was a little boy, my grandmother used to get B12 shots. There’s a lot to be said for vitamins and energy.

Magnesium is known to relax your muscles and is often found in many sleep formulas. You can simply go to your local vitamin Shoppe or GNC and try a few different sleep formulas to see which one resonates with you. We are all biochemically individual, so what works for one person may not be perfect for the next. I know plenty of people who get a hangover from melatonin. If you’re not familiar with melatonin, we really have a lot to talk about. Melatonin is released at night when you’re sleeping, and it’s also noteworthy that it decreases with age. Many say it is the precursor to all of our hormones. In fact, you can’t even get it in Europe without a prescription. Many of my European friends stock up on melatonin when they’re here.

So, we have vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and herbs. A typical sleep formula might have all three. You would have melatonin, which is a prohormone, and then you would have a mineral like magnesium, and perhaps an herb like chamomile or valerian. Heck, even my “nighty night” tea has catnip in it. Melatonin comes in 1 mg, 3 mg, and 5 mg doses. It also comes in time-released versions. You really need to experiment with these things.

Something I found very interesting is a book called “Stopping the Clock” by Klatz and Goldman. The most fascinating thing about the book is that the whole second half of it is nothing but a list of every top anti-aging scientist in the world and what vitamins they take. The one thing I remember most is that practically every anti-aging scientist takes melatonin. Ironically, melatonin doesn’t agree with me. It gives me a slight hangover and lucid dreams (note to self: don’t watch zombie movies), but I still want to take it.

One of my favorite “John-isms” is, “We all place our bets in life.” You might smoke, I might take too many vitamins. If we start doing research on identical twins, controlling for just one thing over a period of a hundred years, we might be able to figure out a thing or two over the next thousand years. So, short of that, place your bets. It’s your life. I like to get a minimum of three blood tests a year to ensure I see the results of my constantly changing programs. I promised you happy vitamins, but let’s move on to the next post.