Don't Sleep on Nutrition

Savannah Burke, Dietetic Intern, Graduate Student, NMSU

Most of us know that nutrition provides our bodies with fuel everyday, but what we decide to consume may affect how we wind down at the end of the day. It's a shame when people go through great lengths to ensure they have a smart and well-structured exercise, nutrition and supplemental regiment but then abandon their sleep quality, which can then have a negative impact on their overall health.

Have you ever caught yourself napping after a big meal or quickly regretted having that post-dinner coffee? When and what we consume may affect our sleep in a variety of ways. Studies have shown that consumption of certain nutrients can affect sleeping patterns, from how easy it is to fall asleep to being awake all night. Consuming sugar, alcohol, and caffeine work with other hormones and neurotransmitters and can keep you awake. Alcohol can initially cause you to fall asleep but then cause an arousal effect or prevent deeper stages of sleep. In the evening hours, it can delay your body from normal routines and keep you up hours later than usual. Most recently, a team of researchers found that too much or too little of specific nutrients and vitamins also impact sleep quality.

Getting enough sleep and eating right are essential lifestyle factors that contribute to good health. Researchers found that individuals who got less than five hours of sleep were classified as short sleepers, those who got seven to nine hours as normal sleepers and more than nine hours as long sleepers. With that, nutritional factors that had the biggest impact on sleep duration included: theobromine, water, vitamin C, folate, carbohydrates, lycopene, choline, selenium, and alcohol. In addition, researchers found that short sleepers showed less dietary difference and had the lowest calorie intake and were more likely to be on a low sodium diet. Long sleepers also showed less dietary variation and consumed fewer calories. On the other hand, normal sleepers consumed the widest variety of foods that were rich in theobromine as well as dodecanoic acid and drank more water.

There have been other studies that have looked at the effects of nutrition and the difficulty of falling asleep, staying asleep, and daytime drowsiness. It was found that difficulty of falling asleep is associated with low calorie intake as well as low levels of alpha-carotene, selenium, dodecanoic acid, and calcium. Less varied diets, high sodium use and special diets were correlated with difficulty staying asleep. Daytime sleepiness was associated with special diets, high caloric diets, low potassium intake, and diets that were either low or high in fat intake.

Not only are sleep and nutrition important for mental and physical health benefits, they can also affect emotional well-being, daytime performance, cognitive function, and physical health. There is also evidence that adequate sleep patterns protect against a series of nutritional and metabolic disorders such as obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. So, what do these correlations mean? Research suggests that sleep deprivation interferes with hunger and satiety hormones crucial to regulating appetite, which could possibly result in either eating too much or storing more food away as fat.

So what can you eat to sleep better?  There are several nutrients that you can consume more of that may positively affect your sleep routine. Certain nutrients that stood out as beneficial for sleep included folate, phosphorus, selenium, lycopene, vitamin C, calcium, and potassium, among others. Consuming these nutrients in your daily meals could be a smart move. In the chart below is a list of nutrients that may benefit sleeping patterns.

Nutrients	Function	Foods
Lycopene	Antioxidant	Primarily found in red fruits and vegetables. Food sources include: watermelon, tomatoes, red peppers, papaya, grapefruit, asparagus and parsley
Potassium	Important for cell function	Apricots, spinach, potatoes, squash, salmon, yogurt, bananas, avocados
Calcium	Crucial for healthy bones and tissues	Milk, dark leafy greens, cheese, fish, almonds, black eyed peas
Choline	Important for nervous system and liver health	Chicken, fish, eggs, turkey, soy and dark leafy greens
Alpha-Carotene	Antioxidant and vitamin A precursor	Carrots, orange pepoer, squash, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin
Selenium	Antioxidant	Fish, shrimp, turkey, chicken, whole grains and beef
Phosphorus	Important for energy metabolism, cell repair	Fish, cheese, lean meat, low fat dairy, lentils, pumpkin seeds
Folate	Essential for many bodily functions	Beans, lentils, asparagus, avocado, spinach and other leafy greens.
Vitamin C	Important for renewing and repairing tissues, iron absorption and other functions	Leafy greens, berries, tomatoes, peas, citrus fruits
Theobromine	Alkaloid	Cocoa powder
Butanoic Acid	Contributes to healthy colon	Milk, butter and cheese
Dodecanoic Acid	Good cholesterol benefits	Coconut and palm kernel oil

All in all, consistent good sleeping habits include getting the right number of calories, consuming a balanced diet with regular intake intervals, limiting sweetened beverages and drinking more water, and eating a wide variety of healthy foods. Ultimately, the greater value of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and proteins consumed, the greater chance of receiving the essentials vitamins and minerals needed to help promote sleep and overall health.

References available upon request.