Has anybody heard of this before? I think it's relatively unknown. I just got a bottle of this in the mail because it contains a St. John's wort extract that is standardized to contain hyperforin rather than hypericin (which most stores have, and has very different pharmacological effects) and I wanted to see if it could be used for dreams or anything. What I didn't expect is it to contain a bunch of other ingredients as well which actually make this sound like it could be a pretty useful supplement. The ingredients are as follows:
- 10 mg Vitamin C
- 400 IU Vitamin D3
- 20 mg Vitamin B6
- 30 mcg Vitamin B12
- 300 mcg Folic Acid
- 15 mg Zinc
- 70 mcg Selenium
- 18 mg Hyperforin
- 25 mg 5-HTP
- 90 mg Rhodiola Rosea Extract
Vitamin B6, as everyone here should know, is definitely useful for dreams. It plays an important role in the production of dopamine, which is very important for recall, lucidity, and dream formation and stability in general. Vitamin C, folic acid, and zinc are also a part of this same dopamine production process, and thus they should all boost dreams in relatively the same way as vitamin B6. In fact, I actually took them a few times on my own within these last few days and my dreams were definitely improved. The 5-HTP I probably don't need to explain as everyone knows that's a good boost, too.
The lesser known ones, hyperforin and rhodiola rosea, I've done a little research into as well. Hyperforin is a reuptake inhibitor of a large number of chemicals in the brain, including but not limited to serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, GABA, and glutamate. I can think of all kinds of crazy reasons this might effect dreams, but I'll leave those theories aside right now; the important part is that the compounds in St. John's wort have been found to enhance REM sleep, so this is a good thing. Rhodiola rosea has been found to do the same, though I'm not entirely sure how it works yet. It does have MAOI activity, but only at doses above normal for this kind of thing, and certainly not from the dose in this pill. I'm hoping the effect will still be significant, though.
Anyone, I'm thinking about giving this a shot tonight or tomorrow, so I'll be able to report back on how it works either way. :)