I just started my first bottle of ZMA last night. I searched around the boards and found one person who said that ZMA took about two weeks before he noticed it help his sleep. I took it and it seemed like I slept the same…if not worse. For those of you who take it, how long did it take for it to really start helping?
I noticed a change in my sleep on the second night. Every night since has been the same…great sleep, no interuptions. I have been taking it at night for almost a month now, and EVERY night is the same. great stuff.
I have not noticed any difference.
I bought it primarily because the vivid dreams sounded neat. Again, no difference.
I’ve gone through a bottle and a half BTW.
[quote]MrTangerineSpedo wrote:
I have not noticed any difference.
I bought it primarily because the vivid dreams sounded neat. Again, no difference.
I’ve gone through a bottle and a half BTW.[/quote]
No difference in sleep here, either.
What meals are you having before and after taking the ZMA? How long after your before meal are you taking the supp? How long after taking ZMA are you eating? I ask, becasue that is one important warning with ZMA.
For example… I eat dinner at roughly 7:30, which consists of Protein and complex carbs. (No to minimal Calcium is critical here as well. EX. If you drink a glass of milk with dinner, it might be effecting the uptake of the supp) At 9:30 I take my ZMA caps, and then at 10:30 I have my Casein and Nuts for bed. I have fell into a deep sleep before making it to my bedtime snack, on many occasions. But, it definitely works.
Also, what brand are you guys taking? Check the ingredients as well. As far as the Zinc and Magnesium goes, I have heard that the aspartates are the way to go, for optimal absorption. Don’t know how true that is, but I haven’t had any issues.
I should be ok as far as food goes. I ate about 2 hours before taking the ZMA, I waited another 45 minutes and then had .5 cup cottage cheese and a Tbsp of PB. Everything there should be alright. Oh, and my ZMA has the acitate(sp?) kind.
I don’t know what to tell you. I use Vitamin Shoppes brand (by Bodytech). It contains 10.5mg Vitamin B6 (as Pyrdoxine Hcl), 450mg of Magnesium (as Aspartate) and 30mg Zinc (as Monomethionine/Aspartate), and have had awesome results thus far. I only bought this brand because of the cost. I wanted to try one first, before I decided if I would use it as a long term supplement.
Also, I get the great sleep that comes with the supp, but I haven’t had a difference in my dreams. I have always had crazy dreams anyway, so this may be harder for me to judge. Maybe it’s just not for you??? I couldn’t tell you. Good luck.
If you sleep well in general you shouldn’t notice anything sleep-wise from ZMA. If it’s causing restless sleep is psychological, or some other factor.
Thats the main reason I wanted to try it…I usually sleep terrible. And I have heard that some guys didnt get the results the first night. I have only used it one night so I will give it a few nights to see if it kicks in. Hopefully it works…I would love to sleep better!!!
[quote]boss99er wrote:
Thats the main reason I wanted to try it…I usually sleep terrible. And I have heard that some guys didnt get the results the first night. I have only used it one night so I will give it a few nights to see if it kicks in. Hopefully it works…I would love to sleep better!!![/quote]
If you sleep really bad try adding in a 3mg tab of melatonin.
It definitely took a few weeks before I noticed anything, maybe even a month. I was actually upping the dosage because I didn’t notice anything, until I was advised against taking too much.
I don’t have any wild dreams, but I sleep very soundly now, and feel my recovery between workouts has significantly improved.
I’d give it a while for it to kick in, but I wonder if the calcium in the cottage cheese is affecting absorption?
Last night I didnt have my cottage cheese though. I decided to skip it the first night I used this stuff to make sure it had a fair chance. Maybe I will hold out on the cottege cheese for a few days until I know this stuff is working.
I noticed ZMA’s effects the first night. I also had deficiencies and stress problems.
I noticed the diff the first night. I take it 3 hours after my last meal. I combine it with melatonin. Works great.
I got dramatic results in 2 or 3 days. I think I was very deficient in z or m (probably due to beer (does that wash out z or m?)) and this stuff hit home for me. If you don’t see a real effect quickly maybe you just aren’t deficient in z or m. I think it is all about adjusting a deficiency.
I think a lot of it depends on how deficient you are. (assuming you’re not taking the supplement with calcium).
It hit me like a ton of bricks the second night I used it. I have always been a poor sleeper, this stuff really helped. A couple months ago, I tried some of the cheap stuff from the vitamin store and didn’t get the same results. I went back to the stuff sold here and I’m back to sleeping like a baby.
Well last night was interesting. It was my second night on ZMA. I had some CRAZY dreams…but I still woke up alot. Is it true that you have to be sleeping pretty deep to have dreams??? I had lots of dreams, but it seemed like I woke up alot…especially as it got more toward morning time.
I took the ZMA at 9:30 and went to bed at 10:30. At about 4:00 I started waking up and it seemed like I woke up about every half hour after that but I had short dreams in between every waking. I guess we will see what tonight brings.
The dreams are one of the best features of ZMA…for me at least.
Well last night was night 3…the dreams are deffinitely there. I have been dreaming more the last few nights than ever. They are really weird random dreams too. Usually when I dream, its about something that has happened that day…not anymore.
Am I correct though that you have to be sleeping deeply before you get vivid dreams. Even though I am waking up sometimes, I seem to sleep deeply while I am asleep.