Serving up good sleep

I see many people who are seeking help to improve their sleep – both falling asleep and staying asleep.  Alongside supplements and herbal support, your choices for both what and when you eat could be another tool to support better sleep. 

Regularly getting a great night’s sleep can do so much for your health; improving your immunity, healing time and memory, along with regulating pain, mood, appetite, blood pressure, blood sugars, and energy levels.  

The body’s circadian rhythm helps set the clock for the release of hormones that help with sleep and wakefulness.  When we eat at irregular times throughout the day, this can disrupt our natural rhythm.  Most importantly, eating later into the evening activates metabolism and digestive processes that can set us up for a bad night’s sleep. 

When our circadian rhythm is working correctly, it stimulates melatonin production which peaks in the middle of the night to keep us asleep.  As well as encouraging a natural circadian rhythm by when we eat, we can support natural melatonin production through a number of dietary pathways.

The old wives’ tale of a glass of hot milk before bed may have some truth to it. Milk, along with cheese, meat, soy beans, oat bran, seafood, pumpkin seeds and nuts all contain the amino acid tryptophan which can be converted to melatonin.  However, the key to getting tryptophan into the brain for conversion is to consume it with carbohydrates.  Studies have shown a glass of milk with some honey in it improve tryptophan availability.

In order to convert tryptophan to serotonin, and then melatonin, the body also needs magnesium and B6 and B5 vitamins.  Both B6 and magnesium are commonly depleted through stress, alcohol and medication use, and may therefore need supplement support to aid this conversion.

Alternatively, eating foods rich in melatonin bypasses the need for some conversion.   Tart cherry is a well-researched food high in melatonin, that has shown to improve sleep quality and quantity.  Strawberries, beefsteak tomatoes, corn, rice, almonds and walnuts also have high levels of melatonin, but it is unclear whether they are effective at improving sleep.

Like all nutritional approaches to good health, it will rarely be one food that will be the secret answer, but a whole dietary approach which includes these foods.  Including plenty of vegetables in your diet will also provide fibre to support gut health that aids serotonin production which can then convert to melatonin.  Avoiding certain foods such as stimulating sugars and caffeine, or high GI foods can also be helpful.  Any unmanaged food allergies or intolerances can also stimulate adrenaline, which can interfere with sleep.

A DIY sleep improvement programme through targeted dietary intake and routine could be a low-cost, uncomplicated intervention to help improve your overall health. But if you would like personalised help with improving your sleep and diet, then please get in touch.