I wouldn't read too much into the title, the closing parts of the article give a much more balanced take on the whole issue. This study disagrees with some previous work and it's unclear which result makes sense and why. As usual, more research is needed, and while a catchy title is nice, this isn't anything to change your dietary habits by, Show 2 replies

What isn't mentioned is that bananas and other potassium-rich foods are alkaline, and so can neutralize stomach acid reflux. Acid reflux is a common source of poor sleep quality. So that could be one explanation for the fewer sleep disturbances. Show 5 replies

I know this isn't related to potassium directly, but anecdotally I have had success using magnesium supplements for insomnia/improving general sleep quality. I have also been consuming electrolyte mixes containing potassium to help with muscle recovery from training, and have found them to help with physical soreness & general well-being. Show 5 replies

Strangely the original study misstates the direction of the main finding, contradicting itself directly.

Is this a typo, or something more nefarious?

From the abstract:

    Multiple regression analyses revealed that individuals with higher AIS scores had higher daily potassium intake

From the body of the paper (supported by the results):

    Multiple regression analysis indicated that individuals with a higher potassium intake had lower AIS scores.

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PSA: before you start supplementing potassium (or gorging on bananans or potatoes), please be aware that too moch potassium can lead to heart rhythm disturbances, and that some common medications (like anti-hypertensives) can have further predispose you to developing hyperkalemia. Show 3 replies

Learnt from my grandmother to eat plenty bananas before bedtime. It helped with my asthma and swear too that it did wonders for my sleep.

Usually had it with a hot curry at dinner time or dessert (sliced bananas, cubed apples and evaparoted milk.)

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The real shocking information I gained from this paper is that the AIS goes from 0-24 (0 = perfect sleep, 24 = total insomnia) and the study participants had an amazing average AIS score of 4.3 (SD 3.3)! Wow, how well all those people must sleep!

As someone scoring 12, it's pretty bad and I am suffering a lot while trying to sleep and during day time because I did not sleep well.

If my understanding of statistics, standard deviations and the standardized partial regression coefficient are correct, potassium supplementation in the evening only DECREASES this score by about 0.2178 (Beta −0.066, multiplied with SD of 3.3), which is kinda worthless.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

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I strongly recommend watching this video on the effect of potassium on cardiovascular disease (like stroke)!

Re-Balancing One Essential Nutrient to Protect against Stroke:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liW9F6gLwgQ

IIUC, Na is used like signaling medium in body and alkaline metals that isn't Na tends to reduce blood pressure, slow heartbeat and neural activity. With that in mind, it sounds reasonable that those tendency could lead to slightly deeper sleep. Or is there something else to it? Show 1 reply

My main problem is waking up too early. Any silver bullet for that? Show 8 replies

There are plenty of studies exploring this that don't come from weird websites.

A recent one:

- https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.10168

Many, many more

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A self reported insomnia study has very poor accuracy. There is no reason in this day and age they are not using a sleep tracker to measure sleep onset.

Also, there is a correlation between potassium and magnesium levels, and they measured potassium intake, but no mention of magnesium. It is possible that the subjects with highest potassium intake also had higher magnesium levels.

I'm not saying the study is wrong, but it does make a good point to the people taking magnesium to help sleep, they should also be taking potassium. I'll be trying that over the next little bit.

Are there any studies on these studies? There are so many of them--and they're issued multiple times of day on television "news"--that there has to be one. Show 1 reply

I have a bottle of potassium based salt substitute that I use to supplement K. Can anyone here clarify the pros/cons of this? It's quite wretched by itself, but if used very sparingly is not bad with many foods.

As I'm sure all know, K in supplemental form is FDA regulated and one would need to take up to 1/2 a bottle to reach the RDA, whereas in salt sub form a single, unpleasant serving can get close to the RDA. I think it's in chloride form...

Edit: fsckin android keypad

Link to the study itself: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17010148

Site fails to scroll with ublock in my browser/adguard on my network.

choices = [

  1/4 tsp of potassium bicarbonate powder in 8 oz of water,

  200 mg L-theanine,

  30 minutes of a podcast,

]

while choices and not sleep:

  choice = choices.pop(0)

  take_choice(choice)

  wait(25 * 60)

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Seriously? When I've posted similar items [1] of similar provenance, they've been flagged in an HN minute.

[1] https://imgur.com/a/aolYez5

I haven't heard of potassium before. Show 3 replies