WHAT YOU EAT DETERMINES HOW YOU SLEEP, AND VICE-VERSA
Have you noticed how your eating habits change the day after a bad night’s sleep? Chances are, you feel hungry often and reach for sweet, starchy, comfort food more than usual. This is not just an emotional response but is actually backed by science. Lack of sleep causes leptin (which tells your body when you’re full) to drop and ghrelin (a hormone that stimulates appetite) to rise.
The link between diet and sleep is more complex than just how much coffee you drink or how closely to bedtime you have that cup of tea. There’s also the question of your circadian rhythm, which is what keeps the body’s multiple functions going the way they should be, such as when you should sleep and wake, eat to feed hunger, and metabolise what you eat.
A meal that’s high in carbohydrates can be detrimental to your sleep, as it is known to increase the number of times you wake up in the middle of the night. If your diet is off kilter, your body clock will be too, which then throws the balance off everything it regulates. Sleep becomes erratic, moods swing between high and low, and nutrition goes down the drain as you’re more likely to make bad food choices. What a mess you’ll be in!
You’re likely to be cranky and simply give in to those cravings, but those foods will lead to more sleepless nights and before you know it, you’re stuck in a dysfunctional cycle with no end. Hence, it’s important to be mindful of what you eat. To improve the quality of your sleep, emphasise these foods in your diet:
