Foods that benefit and foods that disturb your sleep

"You're what you eat". Taking the essence from this famous saying, we can understand that food has a great impact on our life. What we eat determines our energy levels, our output, the way our body reacts towards different stresses, and how our body fights with environmental changes and illness.

On similar lines, food also has a great effect on not only our sleeping patterns but the quality of sleep. In order to achieve a sound sleep, dinner should be quite specific- including a few key items while excluding some others. Functional Nutritionist Mugdha Pradhan, CEO, and Founder of iThrive suggest some foods that benefits and foods that disturb our sleep.

Low complex carbohydrates such as rice and potato can increase the ability to gain sound sleep. The simple carbs are lighter on our digestive system, making it work a little less hard to break them down. Low complex carbs also trigger serotonin and melatonin, which are required for quality sleep.

Good quality meat helps in increasing our protein levels which makes us feel full. This in-turn becomes quite beneficial to good sleep. Similarly, organ meat has a lot of nutrients in it, which helps to repair our neurotransmitters. It allows one to attain a relaxing good night's sleep.

Bone broth is very helpful as it contains Glycine, which is an anti-inflammatory amino acid that has a calming effect on our brain and helps us fall and stay asleep by lowering our core body temperature.

Poppy seeds and nutmeg have been long used in Indian households to cure sleep disorders. These ingredients taken separately or together in the form of tea or powder can bring down our stress levels and help us calm down.

It's common knowledge that intake of coffee can disrupt our capability of achieving sound sleep. Having coffee before sleeping or any food with high levels of caffeine content can contribute to prolonged sleep latency, reducing total sleep duration and sleep efficiency, and worsening the quality of sleep.

Intake of alcohol, even a small dose of liquor, can alter GABA and glutamate levels in the suprachiasmatic nuclei, which is the location of the central circadian pacemaker. Sleep becomes quite ineffective for recharging our bodies after consuming liquor.

Spicy food can deeply affect our digestive system and should be avoided, especially before sleeping. High spice is known to cause indigestion and worsen symptoms of heartburn and acid reflux which disturbs our sleep.

Many recommend a low sodium diet, but it can actually be detrimental to our sleep. Using an appropriate amount of salt is necessary to keep the stress hormones and adrenaline lower, which results in a good night's sleep. Also, sodium is a good electrolyte for our body.

Processed food creates gut imbalance and indigestion that may wake us up at night and mess up our sleep.

Sleep is one of the most underestimated activities of the day. Sleep, often considered a hindrance in the hustle culture, is actually an enabler of a productive day. One should take good care of the quality of sleep as it can affect all systems of the body and can ultimately cause burnout. The foods mentioned above will help us achieve sound sleep, which can further provide us with a healthy mind to make better decisions.

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