01/05/2024
Can’t Sleep? Check Your Diet!
Inadequate and poor quality sleep can contribute to the development of chronic disorders such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. What we need is sufficient and uninterrupted time in slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement sleep (REM). During slow-wave sleep there is an extra boost in growth hormone. This valuable hormone improves the ability of your cells to make proteins, enzymes, and antibodies. The results? Better repair in muscle and joints, a brighter mind, improved digestion, a more effective immune system. Both REM and SWS help to consolidate memory. What we eat impacts the quality of our sleep.
Check Your Carbs
Sugar hurts the quality of your sleep. Greater sugar intake is associated with more arousals from sleep (sleep fragmentation). Eating less fiber, more saturated fat, and more sugar has been linked to lighter, less restorative, and more disrupted sleep. A higher percentage of energy from saturated fat predicted less slow wave sleep. In contrast, greater fiber intake predicted more time spent in the stage of deep, slow wave sleep. 1
Another study linked consumption of high fiber foods to more slow-wave sleep and less time spent in shallow sleep. The same study showed that a greater intake of calories from saturated fat was associated with less time spent in slow-wave sleep. Additionally, greater sugar and non-sugar refined carbohydrate intakes were associated with more wake bouts during the sleep episode. These associations in this study also indicate that higher saturated fat and lower fiber intakes may produce less SWS, more nighttime arousals, and a reduction in overall sleep quality. 2
A Japanese study found that poor sleepers with the highest carbohydrate intake consumed more confectionary and noodles than rice compared to good sleepers with a similarly high carbohydrate intake. The same study showed consumption of vegetables and fish was linked to better sleep. 3
1. Amer Acad of Sleep Medicine. Studies show that sleep fragmentation significantly increases the risk of coronary artery disease even after other possible confounding factors are adjusted. European Society of Cardiology
2. St-Onge, MP. Short sleep duration increases energy intakes but does not change energy expenditure in normal-weight individuals. Am J Clin Nutr 2011; 94:410–6
3. Katagiri R.Low intake of vegetables, high intake of confectionary, and unhealthy eating habits are associated with poor sleep quality among middle-aged female Japanese workers. J Occup Health. 2014;56:359–68
