SLEEP and food; two essential elements that keep us alive – but did you know the two actually go hand in hand?
Your food choices can be impacted by the amount and quality of sleep you’ve had, and your sleep can be impacted by the food you eat.
GettyWhat you scoff before bed really can have an impact on how well you kip[/caption]
So, it’s wise to make good sleep-inducing food choices to really make sure your shut eye is the best it can be.
After all, almost one in five people in the UK aren’t getting enough sleep according to Mental Health UK and 7.5 million Brits get under five hours of sleep a night according to recent studies.
It’s a far cry from the recommended seven to nine hours of recommended sleep per night, so it might be wise to hone in on diet to give ourselves the best possible chance of getting a good night’s sleep.
But what should you be avoiding before hitting the sack?
Dr Greg Potter is a Health and Performance Consultant and Sleep Expert.
He reveals his dietary sleep saboteurs that can wreak havoc on sleep, either making it hard to drift off, or disrupt our sleep throughout the night…
1. Swerve the cab sav
It’s not ideal news if you’re partial to a wine with dinner, but Dr Potter recommends cutting your alcohol intake as early in the day.
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but alcohol disrupts sleep in several ways.
“Alcohol changes the structure of your sleep, fragmenting sleep in the second half of the night and reducing your ability to get enough rapid eye movement sleep, a sleep stage important to your ability to regulate your emotions and be creative.”
He adds: “As a diuretic, alcohol increases urination, which might wake you up more often at night.
“Alcohol is also a muscle relaxant and can therefore exacerbate sleep-related breathing problems, such as snoring and sleep apnoea.”
Dr Potter says: “I drink alcohol about once a week, on average, and when I do, I either try to finish it early or accept that while drinking late might worsen my sleep that night, this isn’t a big problem if my sleep is fine the rest of the time.”
2. Avoid chocolate
“Cut out caffeine at least nine hours before bed,” warns Dr Potter.
“You can also try replacing some coffee and tea with decaffeinated alternatives.
“Most of us consume a substantial amount of caffeine in the form of coffee, tea, and chocolate.
“These products can be delicious, and some of them confer meaningful health benefits, but you need to mind when you consume them.
“One reason [to be mindful] is that the longer you’ve been awake, the greater the accumulation of a sleep-promoting chemical named adenosine in your brain.
“Caffeine blocks the interaction of this chemical with its receptors, temporarily reducing sleepiness.
“This can be helpful, such as when driving after insufficient sleep.
“But it can also cause you to take longer to fall asleep, lighten your sleep, and shorten your sleep, particularly if you consume caffeine too late in the day.
“Experiment to find what works best for you.”
3. Be wary of FODMAP foods
FODMAP foods are foods that often, people may struggle to digest.
“This isn’t specific, I know, but if you know you find certain items hard to digest — let’s say they make you bloated and gassy — it’s best to avoid these shortly before sleep.”
Dr Potter says common offenders include fatty foods, spicy foods, and foods and drinks high in fermentable carbohydrates (FODMAPS) that include lactose in milk and fibres in many plants such as onions, leeks, lentils, and more.
4. Enjoy pizza earlier in the day
Although it tends to be an evening meal, your love of pizza for dinner might have to take a back seat if you want a decent night’s kip.
“If you eat ultra-processed foods such as fast food takeaways and confectionery, have them early in the day.
“It’s fine to consume foods such as pizza, burgers, chips, and ice cream in moderation, but it’s also generally true that your body’s better able to digest and metabolise foods earlier in the waking day,” explains Dr Potter.
“So, if you want to celebrate something with lots of delicious but highly processed foods and drinks, it’s probably better to do this at lunch than at dinner.”
5. Too much of the healthiest foods can disrupt sleep
You might think you’re doing your sleep a big favour by packing in a big, nourishing meal before bed.
But Dr Potter says that it’s best to avoid too much of anything at dinner.
“The size of your final meal and the amount of fluid you consume late in the day can strongly affect your sleep, even if you’re eating nourishing foods such as oily fish, nuts, vegetables, and fruits.
“It’s generally best to go to bed neither hungry nor full.”
As for what’s best to eat before bed…
Dr Potter says some foods contain small amounts of substances that directly promote sleep.
“For example, many plants including cherries, tomatoes, pistachio nuts, and others contain a form of the hormone melatonin, which weakly promotes sleep.”
Regarding how much you eat, Dr Potter warns that if you chronically undereat, you will probably get less sleep than you would if you ate enough.
“At the extreme, people who have anorexia get substantially less sleep than average, and their sleep is broken up too.
“This is probably rooted in evolution. If you think of our ancestors, it would have been adaptive to sleep less during times of food shortages, for this would increase time awake to go out to hunt and gather food.”
When you eat is also important…
“You might find that if you have a very large meal immediately before you normally fall asleep, you’ll find it hard to sleep well and might suffer from problems such as acid reflux if you’re prone to these issues.”
Dr Potters adds: “If you’re like most people, most of the time, it’s reasonable to aim to finish consuming any food or drink that contains calories at least three hours before sleep.
“It’s fine to drink small amounts of sugar-free soft drinks or non-caffeinated herbal teas after this time.”
Dr Potter says the reason for this three-hour rule is that your ability to control your blood sugar after eating tends to be lower shortly before bed than it is earlier in the day, “in part because a couple of hours before you fall asleep at night your brain starts producing a substantial amount of the hormone melatonin”.
Melatonin is our sleepy hormone. “It tells cells throughout your body that it’s night-time.
“This reduces how much of the sugar-clearing hormone insulin your pancreas releases.
“The significance of this is that blood sugar control is important to many aspects of health, including that of your pancreas and your brain.”