6 Foods to Improve Your Sleep Quality
Sleep plays a crucial role in maintaining your overall health. While sleeping, your body will repair and rejuvenate cells. Poor sleep quality can affect mood, motor skills, and exercise performance and weaken the immune system, leading to health problems. Certain activities, for example, working late, binge TV-watching, and scrolling social media content on a mobile phone, can undermine our sleep quality. Your body struggles to unwind, leading to difficulties falling asleep.
Certain foods can help you relax and facilitate quality sleep. Nutrients such as vitamins B6 and B12, folic acid, and hormones such as serotonin can promote healthy sleep patterns. Selecting what you eat before bedtime can benefit your health and sleep quality.
Why is sleep deprivation a significant concern?
While sleeping, your body and brain transition through stages of sleep. Your body initiates cellular and muscle repair and rejuvenates damaged cells. If your body does not have sufficient time for repairs, it becomes vulnerable and less healthy. Sleep deprivation can contribute to immune dysfunction, memory impairment, heightened stress, and even overweight or obesity. Additionally, inadequate sleep can lead to the buildup of waste products in the brain, potentially causing inflammation of the brain's memory centers.
Why does sleep deprivation cause inflammation?
Sleep deprivation can trigger systemic inflammatory responses throughout the body. Without adequate rest, this inflammatory response remains elevated. Consequently, immune cells meant to protect the body can inadvertently harm healthy cells, elevating the risk of conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis.
Addressing sleep issues requires different approaches, such as lifestyle modification and medical intervention. However, incorporating certain foods into your diet can improve your sleep quality.
What foods can improve your sleep quality?
Although no specific foods have an instant sleep aid effect, a study published in The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine showed that eating high-fiber, low-saturated fat foods and reducing refined carbohydrate intake can improve sleep quality, allowing for a deeper and more restorative rest.
There are the foods to improve your sleep quality
Lean proteins
Opt for lean protein food sources such as chicken, fish, low-fat cheese, egg whites, soybeans, and pumpkin seeds rich in tryptophan, an amino acid that increases serotonin levels. Avoid high-fat cheeses, chicken wings, or deep-fried fish, as they take longer to digest and may disrupt sleep.
Complex carbohydrates
Consume foods made from whole grains, such as brown rice and whole wheat bread, instead of refined carbohydrates that decrease serotonin levels and hinder sleep quality.
Heart-healthy fats
Incorporate unsaturated fats from walnuts, almonds, cashews, and pistachios in your meals to elevate serotonin levels and heart health. Avoid foods high in saturated and trans fat, such as French fries or potato chips, as they can lower serotonin levels.
Foods high in magnesium
Similar to tryptophan, magnesium is a mineral linked to improved sleep quality. Cooking magnesium-rich foods such as leafy greens like spinach, nuts, avocados, and black beans for dinner can help with your sleep.
Fresh herbs
Fresh herbs possess calming properties that can help relax your body. Sage and basil contain compounds known to reduce tension and induce sleep. Preparing homemade pasta sauce with sage and basil is a simple and effective way to help you partake in more fresh herbs. Homemade pasta sauces are lower in sugar compared to store-bought options. However, avoid red chili or black pepper in the evening as they have stimulating effects.
Warm milk or herbal tea
Drinking warm milk or herbal tea such as chamomile or peppermint can calm you down and induce good sleep. Caffeine can affect people differently; some may feel stimulated even with a small cup of coffee. If you enjoy coffee, drink it before 10 AM.
Additionally, pairing certain foods can help you unwind with better sleep; this includes an apple with mozzarella, a banana with low-fat yogurt, some low-fat cottage cheese with whole-grain pita chips, and peanut butter with whole-grain crackers. Drinking tart cherry juice can also aid sleep. However, remember to snack in moderation.
What foods should you avoid before bedtime?
Avoid sugary, spicy, processed foods, caffeine (after 10 AM), and alcoholic beverages before bedtime.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I have an egg or milk before going to bed?
Protein can contribute to good sleep. Because eggs contain plenty of protein, you can include eggs in your dinner to improve your sleep quality. Eating meals within 3-4 hours of bedtime can increase acid reflux, interfering with and worsening sleep quality.
Summary
Eat sleep-enhancing foods and beverages 3-4 hours before bedtime. Eating right before sleep may lead to digestive issues such as acid reflux. Moreover, sticking to a consistent meal routine aids digestion and fosters enhanced sleep quality.
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