Read a book, take a bath, count sheep. We all have our own way to fall asleep. However, these efforts often fail.
According to a survey, about one-third of people in the UK suffer from insomnia, have trouble falling and sleeping, and about 2 million people are dependent on sleeping pills.
But more and more studies suggest that there may be easier ways to improve your sleep — and it’s by improving what you eat.
It has long been recognized that drinks and foods that contain the stimulant caffeine can interfere with sleep, but certain food groups, such as fruits, vegetables, and even certain breads, have the opposite effect. There is a possibility.
More and more studies suggest that there may be easier ways to improve your sleep — and that’s by improving what you eat.
This was a discovery from a review of a study recently published in the Journal Annual Review of Nutrition.
Marie-Pierre St-Onge, an associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University in New York, one of the authors of the paper, told Good Health: Whole-grain bread was associated with higher quality sleep.
This review is based on other findings from 400 women published in Nutrients in 2020, if you stick to a Mediterranean-style diet rich in fruit, vegetables, nuts, and lean protein. The more I found that I had more sleep, the better the quality.
This study was self-reported. That is, the woman herself wrote down her diet and sleep, but other scientists have seen similar results.
Indeed, following their own research, researchers at the University of Leeds wrote at the BMJ Open in 2018 and are very convinced of the link between diet and sleep, “ on lifestyle and behavioral change policies. It can have a significant impact. “
Their study involved 1,612 adults who had to pay attention to their four-day fruit and vegetable intake in addition to their sleep patterns. People who slept less than 7 hours at night had 24g less fruit and vegetables per day than those who slept optimally for 7-8 hours.
This study was self-reported. That is, the woman herself wrote down her diet and sleep, but other scientists have seen similar results.
In addition, while a healthy diet may help sleep, a previous study by Dr. St-Onge and her team suggests that eating more saturated fat and sugar can interfere with sleep. I am.
In a 2016 study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 26 volunteers underwent polysomnography for five nights to record brain waves and other vital signs that could determine the quality and quantity of sleep. A monitoring device was used.
This type of analysis can, for example, determine how long people spend deep sleep and how often they wake up.
“The advantage of this study was that we were in control of their diet, so we knew exactly what they were eating,” says Dr. St-Onge. “Therefore, for the first four days, I had a healthy diet low in saturated fat and containing recommended levels of fiber and sodium. [salt].. On the fifth day, they were able to choose for themselves what they ate — and that was when they saw much higher intakes of saturated fat, salt and sugar.
When the team analyzed the group’s sleep habits, they discovered some surprising differences.
“On the fifth day, they slept almost twice as long as they did the day before — 12 minutes longer —” Dr. St-Onge told Good Health. “They also spend less time on deep sleep, the most restorative stage of sleep.”
This is when the brain waves quickly slow down and memory is recorded, and when the pituitary gland excretes the growth hormone needed to regenerate cells. Studies show that volunteers had this deep sleep for 24 minutes on the night of the fifth day, but 29 minutes on the day they ate better.
“This is a significant reduction, equivalent to a 15% reduction,” says Dr. St-Onge.
From there, she was able to study the specific foods they ate and their effects, and identify the three major food groups that had a significant impact.
“Volunteers who eat a lot of fiber spend less time in the brighter stages of sleep and more time in deep sleep,” she says. [deep] sleep.
“And the more sugar they had, the more awake they had that night. We believe that sugar can cause blood sugar instability and disturb sleep.
For unknown reasons, a previous study of 63 patients with type 2 diabetes published at PLoS ONE in 2015 also found that decreased glycemic control was associated with decreased sleep. ..
Although sugar may be harmful to sleep, “plant-based foods have multiple ingredients that may be associated with better sleep,” says Dr. St-Onge.
Fiber is just one example. According to a St-Onge study, those who eat the most fibrous legumes, including legumes such as lentils and chickpeas, have “sleep efficiency” (that is, the amount of time they spend in bed when they are actually sleeping). It turned out to be the best.
According to a St-Onge study, those who eat the most fibrous legumes, including legumes such as lentils and chickpeas, have “sleep efficiency” (that is, the amount of time they spend in bed when they are actually sleeping). It turned out to be the best.
And when it comes to a typical Mediterranean-style diet, Dr. St-Onge suggests that the benefits of sleep may come from tryptophan. Tryptophan is an amino acid used by the body to turn the hormone melatonin. We feel sleepy, stable mood, and serotonin, which also plays a role in sleep.
However, to be effective, tryptophan (for example, found in turkeys, fish, bananas, and seeds) must cross the blood-brain barrier, a semipermeable cell wall that protects the brain from toxins.
To overcome that, tryptophan must effectively ride on a “carrier” protein — but it can be crushed out of the way by other amino acids waiting to pass. And at least one study concluded that “this limits the amount of serotonin that can be made.”
“For melatonin, your body is really good at producing it,” says Kevin Morgan, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Loughborough University. He spent much of his career studying sleep.
“Sit in the bright light in the morning, and you can start producing everything you need.”
Sally-based NHS nutritionist Catherine Collins believes that there is not yet sufficient evidence to recommend a single diet or food as a way to improve sleep.
“The Mediterranean diet is the gold standard for dieting, and there is no doubt about it,” she says. “But previous studies haven’t been done long enough to ensure that not enough people are involved or that a particular ingredient helps sleep.”
However, she said that the fact that diet has an anti-inflammatory effect “is otherwise beneficial to health, for example for people with arthritis, and indirectly benefits sleep in the long run. It means that it may be. “
And the fact that it keeps you feeling full longer may also be beneficial, she adds.
“Sleeping on an empty stomach does not help you sleep, but a Mediterranean diet is so high in healthy fat that it has a low glycemic index and you can feel full longer.”
Professor Morgan believes it’s not what you eat, but it’s key when you eat.
“Meal time is invaluable. It’s a circadian rhythm metronome, and as the name implies, it’s a rhythm that drives the body clock,” he says.
“The guardian of good sleep is regularity. If you can maintain the boring lifestyle of eating and going to bed at the same time every day, you can develop good sleep. But in my opinion, you change what you eat. You can’t fix your broken sleep.
However, Dr. St-Onge believes her research is promising. “If we can find an easy way to improve the health of our population, I think it’s worth pursuing.
What about her own sleep? “I already have a healthy diet,” she says. “But when I wake up thinking,’It was a very good sleep,’ I try to keep in mind that it may have helped it.
“We often pay attention to sleep deprivation, which helps us take a more positive approach.”
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