Sleep Disorders And The Positive Impact of Nutrition

“You are what you eat” This quote speaks a lot about how the food you eat affects your overall physical and mental health. But did you know how the food you eat also affects your sleeping pattern?

The nutrition that reaches our gut is somehow influencing our body while regulating various other processes. This also affects sleep disorders.

Sleep is one of the most important coping mechanism of your body. It is vital for your body to recharge itself after a tiring day through sleeping. Nutrition and sleep both provide the necessary influences our bodies need.

While we put most of our efforts to provoke sleep by various methods, the one approach we fail to focus on is choosing the nutrition we take. Unknowingly nutrition plays a vital role in acquiring or reducing sleep disorders.

Certain food products that we think of as highly nutritious may harm our sleeping schedule. Others may contribute greatly to a good night’s sleep. So let us take an insight into the impact of nutrition on sleep disorders!

How does a change in diet influence your sleeping pattern?

It might not be totally right to say that a particular diet can help to promote sleep or to reduce sleep-related troubles. However; studies show that the intake of certain food products such as fish, fruits, vegetables, and milk-containing food items promote a healthy sleeping pattern in humans.

It is safe to believe that nutrition does have a say in the quality of sleep you experience. Although it is still unknown what exact diet promotes it, researchers have been able to find the role of various nutrition on sleeping disorders and overall health.

Impact of Proteins

Protein is known to show its benefits with tissue repair and recovery of muscles. Now studies have also found the role of protein in one’s sleep cycle.

The presence of a sufficient amount of protein in your diet can contribute greatly to a healthy sleeping pattern. Protein, either in its vegetarian form or non-vegetarian form provides an appropriate source of nutrition.

Experts believe that the consumption of lower and higher levels of protein by people in their diet have a relation with the span and quality of sleep that people enjoy. The factors indicate how your diet should be rich in protein to tackle sleep-related troubles.

Nutrition and sleep – how carbohydrates influence you and sleep disorders

As we said earlier, there is a strong link between nutrition and sleep.

Carbohydrates are our go-to energy inducing nutrition that helps us to keep up our energy throughout the day. While every other item we consume has some amount of carbs intact in it, studies believe that carbs make us fall asleep faster.

Meals rich in carbohydrates are known to produce insulin in the blood. This results in increasing Amino acid absorption and ultimately leaves Tryptophan in the blood.

Tryptophan is the precursor of Serotonin, a neurotransmitter that enhances your mood and also the parent producer of the chemical Melatonin, which is the main causing agent of sleepiness.

Although carbohydrates help you to sleep well, you must focus on which type of carbohydrate you incorporate in your diet to get the best results.

When it comes to nutrition and sleep, complex carbs are preferable over simple carbs because complex carbs contain fibers while simple carbs can spike the level of glucose in your blood.

The role of minerals on your sleeping schedule

Food enriched with minerals are prone to have a profound effect not only on your health but on your sleeping schedule too.

Studies back the claim that the consumption of minerals in your diet can lead to show several improvements related to your sleep disorders.

Here are some of the minerals that you should incorporate in your diet to experience improvements in your sleeping cycle.

Magnesium: Magnesium helps the body to relax, which is a necessity to induce sleep. It helps to regulate the “sleepy hormone” melatonin which influences the sleep cycle of your body. Lack of magnesium in your diet can even cause insomnia.

Zinc: Research shows that a healthy level of zinc in your diet influences the amount and quality of the sleep you enjoy. Consumption of zinc influences the central nervous system that helps to regulate essential processes such as sleep. As zinc is an important mineral for the regulation of healthy sleep habits, a balanced amount of it is advisable in your diet.

Iron: The lack of iron in your diet can be the cause of iron deficiency anemia. Several symptoms that accompany it are loss of appetite, headache, irritability, and bad mood. Studies show that people who are experiencing such symptoms due to iron deficiency anemia are prone to develop sleep disorders at some point.

Vitamins and their contribution to sleep disorders

Believe it or not, vitamins have a say in your sleep quality and quantity.  Vitamin deficiency affects your sleep cycle, leading you to induce several sleep-related troubles.

As many types of vitamins are there in the form of natural ingredients or artificial health supplements, each of them has a role to play in maintaining the quality of your sleep cycle.

Here are some of the vitamins that influence your sleeping pattern greatly.

Vitamin C: According to a study, Vitamin C acts as a contributor to preventing sleep deprivation. People who lack Vitamin C in their diet are prone to have trouble in sleeping.

Vitamin C plays a major role in contributing to the manufacture of the neurotransmitter Serotonin.  This explains its direct relation with your sleeping pattern.

Vitamin D: As much as Vitamin D helps in the absorption of calcium in the body, it also helps in maintaining a healthy sleep cycle. Studies have shown a benefit on the quality of sleep people experience with balanced supplementation of Vitamin D.

The lack of the vitamin may also lead to sleep disorders. Vitamin D has noticeable therapeutic effects with its usage in treating sleep disorders.

Incorporating all these essential nutrients in your diet will lead you to experience noticeable changes in the quality of your sleep.

While it is important to have a balanced diet with all the nutrients, it is also vital to cut down some of the products such as caffeine.

A prescribed dose of Zopiclone is also a good alternative to gain quick relief from sleep troubles.

Remember to incorporate a healthy diet in your lifestyle if you are aiming to get rid of sleep disorders.