How your diet affects your sleep
In the early 20th century, an Austrian doctor explored the intricate relationship between diet and sleep in a book about dreams. We’ve since learned that our minds are intricately linked to our bodies, and our sleep serves as a vital gauge of our waking experiences and overall quality of life.
Nowadays, that sounds almost redundant… but we can’t overstate how much our daily choices and routines have a profound impact on our sleep. Which, in turn, makes all the difference in our humor, our muscle growth, our workout and professional performance, our immune system… and the list goes on and on.
The quality of our sleep depends on various factors. For instance, do you exercise? How many hours of sun exposure do you get during the day? How many hours do you spend in front of a screen? Do you consider your routine stressful? How is your diet?
In this article, let’s focus on the last one of those questions and discover how your diet is affecting your sleep.
You dream what you eat
There’s plenty of studies and data showing that when we sleep too little, we’re much more inclined to choose foods with HIGH caloric rates, specially the ones with large quantities of sugar and fat.
That’s our bodies’ way of compensating our insone metabolism with external sources of energy. That’s also our cranky brains throwing a tantrum and expecting chemical rewards in return for being KEPT awake all night.
SPOILER ALERT: that usually doesn’t work. But there’s a silver lining. While having trouble sleeping can spoil your diet, a good and balanced diet could be Morpheus’ bestfriend.
There’s still lots of PEOPLE who don’t know that there’s a direct relation between what you eat and how you sleep. Sure, it’s kinda obvious that if your last MEAL before bed is a burger with bacon, accompanied by French fries and a DOUBLE espresso to send it all down… you probably gonna stay awake.
But beyond those extreme scenarios, the relation between the food we choose and the quality of our sleep gets a little bit more complicated.
Overall, the balanced diet that’s good for our training – with all the nutrients our bodies need to perform well when exercising and growing healthy after it – is the same balanced diet that HELP us sleep.
Not only choosing nutrient-rich foods, but also eating them at regular hours with regular intervals will provide our brains with the chemical conditions it needs to produce Sandman’s magical dust: the neurotransmitters that allow us to maintain a regular sleep.
According to the Sleep Foundation, having a diet with enough of some key nutrients – like calcium, magnesium and vitamins (especially A,C,D,E and K) – is essential for our sleep quality. There are numberless kinds of diets that can provide you with just that. The Mediterranean for instance. This plant based diet, with lean meats and high-fiber foods, seems to improve sleep quality.
On the other hand… eating too little fibers and too much saturated fat, sugar and carbohydrates will probably lead to LIGHTER, less restorative sleep, full of awakenings throughout the night.
Read more > Fitness or Wellness: discover the differences
Foods that can help you sleep
Banana
A great source of magnesium, potassium and vitamin B.
Milk
A glass of warm milk will provide reinforced TRYPTOPHAN, an essential amino-acid that’s our brains’ raw matter to produce serotonin, one of the most powerful sleep regulators.
Rice, oats and wheat
Those sleepy trio of grains are, in turn, sources of nutrients that work as TRYPTOPHAN raw matter. So, a porridge with milk will probably do the trick.
Passion fruit
Contrary to what the name suggests, this tropical fruit is famous for its relaxing effect.
Honey
Is a great catalyser for TRYPTOPHAN action in our brains, speeding up the process for a good night’s sleep.
Lettuce
Another great source for TRYPTOPHAN raw matter.
Nuts
Provide HIGH doses of magnesium, HELPING you fall asleep QUICKLY and well.
And, when in doubt, there’s no mystery: avoid products whose ingredients’ names you couldn’t spell and greasy foods. Choose natural foods and non-processed meals, with low or no sugar ADDITION, freshly cooked and produced closer to home.
Do you know how the food can improve professional performance? Discover everything in this blog.