Is the Food you’re Eating, Negatively Affecting your Sleep?
We’ve learned that nutrition is key to a healthy lifestyle. Whether or not we add in daily exercising when, what, and how much we eat can affect our sleep. Food and sleep work together as one affects the other and vice versa. Poor sleep= poor food choices and poor food choices can = poor sleep.
Sleep deprivation can cause weight gain by lessening the production of a hormone, called leptin which gives us the cue we’re full. Also, sleep deprivation can have more severe causes like chronic insulin resistance, the underlying cause that leads to type 2 diabetes.
There is a list of effects poor sleep can induce on a metabolic level, so how does food intake affect sleep? Laine Bergeson Becco wrote a detailed article on this exact topic. She broke it down into four eating habits that can have an impact on our sleep quality.
Meal-timing: While it is not pleasant to go to bed on an empty stomach, eating a big meal right before bedtime is not ideal either. Aim to eat two to three hours before bed to allow the meal to digest completely.
Food choices: To avoid heading to bed overly full or famished, lean towards smaller snacks when it's closer to bedtime. Foods like nuts, hummus, high-fat yogurts, and salmon all have nutrients that promote sleep. In general, be careful when opting for carb-rich foods before bed. Though some carbohydrates help people fall asleep faster, having any sugar sensitivity, the added carbs ultimately would backfire. In such a case, slow-absorbing carbs (complex carbs) like sweet potatoes and celery are a better suit. Overall, whole foods are the better choice, and when it comes to sleep, whole foods with the amino acid GABA i.e., mushrooms and Spanish.
Alcohol consumption: Some people would argue that alcohol helps them sleep better, but studies show this type of sleep isn’t high-quality. It acts more like an antidepressant agent that alters the brain's sleep patterns. Myrto Ashe MD suggests if you want to have a drink consume it before 8 pm to allow enough time for the liver to flush it from your system. But she recommends magnesium or tea as a less fun substitute.
Food Habits: Sometimes, the foods we’re eating are more of a tradition than actual wants. To offset these habits, don’t try to use willpower alone. Place boundaries around when and what you eat. My personal go-to simply not having those foods available at the house.
Food and sleep both enhance the fitness journey, but that doesn’t mean we cannot have some fun food options. I’m pro calorie count more so than the type of foods but don’t get me wrong, types of food matter. Whole foods are always ideal. Maybe think of a cheat day as carving out space within your daily calorie intake to have a fun snack here and there. Just remember timing is everything; allow your body enough time to digest the foods to have a quality night's rest.
Live life free and stay fit!
J’Nathan Bullock CSCS