Food and Sleep
Food and Sleep
I’ve had a couple chats with families who are very familiar with sugar and caffeine not being great for promoting sleep, however they don’t know that other foods can effect sleep as well! They also didn’t know the details of why it’s not great to have sugar before bed and how much it really does affect sleep.. For adults and children alike.
So I wanted to go into a little more detail for you!
What comes to mind when you think of sleep and food/drink? Caffeine probably?
However, there are actually some foods (without caffeine) that can affect sleep!
Some foods promote sleep, and some promote wakefulness, and this applies to babes eating solids, but also moms who are breastfeeding.
These foods that promote sleep, do this by making sure there is more of our sleepy hormone floating around in the brain. In case you would like to know the pathway...tryptophan (in foods) helps our bodies make serotonin, which promotes the production of melatonin… and melatonin is that sleep hormone!
These “sleepy foods” high in tryptophan and Vitamin B include turkey, chicken, nuts, bananas, oats, eggs and dairy. In addition, certain nutrients that promote sleep include magnesium, zinc and essential fatty-acids.
Now caffeine in drinks isn’t the only ‘anti-sleep food.’ Things like chocolate, and spices of any kind attach themselves in the stomach and block the sleep hormone from being released.
SUGAR
Why does sugar affect sleep? Sugar is present in many foods, not only junk food and candy but also fruits and vegetables! Sugar increases the blood sugar level and then soon after it drops off. This zig-zag in blood sugar causes the body to try and restabilize things which increases the body temperature and releases adrenaline.
#1 - increase body temperature is the opposite of what we want while we are sleeping (our body temperature naturally drops at night during sleep) and #2 - adrenaline is a stress hormone which causes restlessness and crankiness. So be mindful of not just treats before bed but also natural foods that are high in sugar too!
It might not sound like these things will actually affect sleep, but they do! So keep an eye out if your child is a little extra wound up or is fighting bedtime more than usual… ask yourself what they’ve eaten lately and you might find your culprit.
This isn’t to say.. Don’t give your child dessert! Because nobody wants that, dessert is the best… however just knowing why your child might be acting the way they are is helpful.
Have that ice cream, have those strawberries.. Just beware that they may make a sleep wonky :)
Have a great rest of your day, and as always if you have questions or want more information about any details here please reach out. I’d love to chat!
Best,
-Marina
