The Connection Between Nutrition and Sleep
There is certainly a connection between your diet and sleep, but it is not that straightforward. We have come across many studies about this link between sleep and what you eat and the results are a little bit contradictory. Some of this research was funded by the food industry and some were limited. Having said that, it doesn’t mean your eating habits on a daily basis do not affect your sleep quality at night.
We have seen studies claiming that eating two kiwi fruits an hour before bed for a month made you fall asleep quicker than normal, sleep longer and feel better when you wake up in the morning. And this is because of the high amounts of antioxidants and serotonin in kiwi fruit, both of which enhance your sleep quality. Kiwifruit may in fact improve the sleep duration and efficiency in adults with sleep problems. Despite the existence of a few studies, this is still at the anecdotal evidence level and further investigation is needed.
Tryptophan is a well-known amino acid for a better quality sleep as it makes a few vital molecules, including the melatonin and serotonin. Serotonin affects your mood and behavior and melatonin affects your sleep wake cycle. Serotonin can calm you down and help you sleep, but tryptophan will only make you tired and sleepy straight away if it is taken by itself without the presence of other amino acids in the food. And milk and turkey that are known to be tryptophan rich foods have protein content with many other amino acids. Tryptophan can only get into the brain if it doesn’t compete with other amino acids.
And the synthesis of serotonin in your brain is not affected by your consumption of foods like turkey, milk, chicken, eggs, tofu, seeds and nuts. Tryptophan in the supplement form is obviously another story and may be worth trying, just like you can have a bit of warm milk before bed and see how it works for you. Insulin hormone that is hidden in the pancreas as a response to carb intake can actually help the tryptophan amino acid to get into the brain. As the insulin is released the muscles will absorb the other amino acids that compete with the tryptophan and will make it easier for this amino acid to go through the brain.
When you eat large amounts of carbohydrates or high glycemic foods in the evening or at lunch you will fall asleep much easier. This would explain why you may feel heavy after a big lunch and want to go to sleep. Apart from the high glycemic load meals, the high fat and low fiber foods may cause a reduction in deep and restful slow sleep even though they make you fall asleep faster. This means you’ll probably end up waking up more at night. So it is probably a good idea to focus on healthy whole meals for better quality sleep.
Eating habits and sleep quality are interconnected and if you improve one of them, the other one will also improve. Some studies claim that the chronic lack of sleep makes you burn more calories and make you want to eat unhealthy high calorie, high glycemic foods that you’d want to normally avoid. As many of you may think you won’t go into a deep sleep coma by eating a heavy meal. And by eating an unhealthy large meal before bed at night can have the a negative effect like a stomach upset or heartburn and make you feel uneasy at night.
Spicy meals at dinner may cause indigestion in some people and acid reflux in others as they lie down in bed and this equals sleeping difficulties, even though it is also believed to increase the metabolism. Capsaicin, which is an active ingredient in chili peppers has an impact on your body temperature. Fried foods can make you feel full and heavy and ready to get to bed and fall asleep. But even if you sleep easily you will be more likely to wake up at night with the digestion problem. Fish is quite nutritious and contain vitamin B6 that lets your body produce the powerful melatonin hormone and cause sleep. The best advice to give to anyone with sleeping problems is that they follow a healthy eating plan on a daily basis.
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