According to new research from Colombia University, ensuring that you have a healthy diet with the right nutrients can help you not only get to sleep, but also stay asleep and wake up feeling refreshed for the day.
What we eat throughout our day can greatly affect our quality of sleep, and in turn, how we start and feel in the morning. According to Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep and Circadian Research at Colombia University Irving Medical Center, ensuring our daily diet consists of the right nutrients can help us get to sleep, stay asleep, and wake up feeling refreshed.
Dr. St-Onge recently published her research in a new book, “Eat Better, Sleep Better,” and the data was reported by CNN, citing the link between certain foods and our bodies production of melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep and wake cycles in the body.
Dr. St-Onge is also a professor of nutritional medicine at Colombia. One of her biggest points is that melatonin relies on an amino acid known as tryptophan. Amino acids are the building blocks to proteins, which are essential for our bodies, so in order to have an optimal sleep schedule, we need to know which proteins are going to give our bodies tryptophan specifically.
Dr. Erica Jansen, an assistant professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, told reporters that Dr. St-Onge’s book is a “good representation” of the science that is circulating regarding the connection between sleep and food.
“While some ingredients in particular can help provide tryptophan or encourage melatonin production, just eating a handful of nuts right before bed isn’t going to do the trick.”
Our diet throughout the entire day is integral. “That’s really what I see in my research as well – it’s a whole approach to eating,” Dr. Jansen stated.
“The research suggests that overall, having a balanced, whole-food diet is helpful,” Dr. St-Onge said.
One of her biggest recommendations is to find a diet that is heavy in fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains, fiber, and any protein source low in saturated fats. She discussed that things like chickpeas, lentils, tofu, nuts, seeds, and beans are a major source of tryptophan.
Dr. St-Onge wrote that when it comes to carbohydrate intake, we should find fiber-rich options and avoid processed carbs. She also cited a study she conducted in 2018 that emphasizes a Mediterranean-style diet as a great source of healthy fats from fish and olive oil, which helps aid sleep.
She also wrote about how adding zinc to our diets can help promote the creation of tryptophan and melatonin. Of course, diets are never linear, so it’s important to not put too much pressure on yourself when it comes to adjusting your diet.
“If you want to eat something that’s really not sleep-promoting, it’s not a big problem. It’s not a very prescriptive diet, still, it might not be a good idea to eat something sugary, spicy or caffeinated before bed,” Dr. Jansen said.
Dr. St-Onge also discussed that taking melatonin and supplements don’t always provide the right levels of nutrients to help our bodies sleep.
“Getting nutrients from a balanced diet is generally healthier and safer than supplements. Plus, absorbing nutrients from foods is more efficient than extracting them from supplements.”
“Though people who are already eating a nutrient-dense diet can do more to optimize their sleep, the ones who will likely benefit most are people who have poor diets,” Dr. Jansen said.
It’s recommended that we should look at just one of our meals throughout the day to change in order to adopt a healthier diet to promote solid sleep cycles, this way, we don’t feel as pressured to change our entire lifestyle at once.
Breakfast is one of the easier meals to modify, but in general is often one of the most overlooked. Despite being known as “the most important meal of the day,” many people find themselves in a rush in the morning so they opt for a cup of coffee or quick granola bar.
Either way, slowly and steadily incorporating small things, like legumes, into your everyday eating can help you build the habit of adding more and more healthy additions to your diet.
Dietitian Alexandra Babcock said: “If you want to add more whole foods with sleep promoting nutrients into your day.”
“Lifestyle changes can help you get better sleep, but that might not be enough for people who have insomnia,” Dr. Jansen said.
“It does have to be kind of like a holistic approach. For someone who has really significant sleep disorder, their sleep disorder really should be addressed by a physician at the same time that they’re improving their diets,” she said.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
