Book Review: Eat to Sleep

Karman Meyer, RD, LDN has created a simple and effective book and guide to optimizing your sleep habits. The book provides a balance of research, food explanations, and recipes that helps readers understand sleep better as a whole. Sleep is a complex aspect to life and affected by a number of things all while having a large impact on just about every part of life. Creating a bit of a chicken or the egg type conundrum.

"Sleep, nutrition, and exercise have a symbiotic relationship, either working in harmony or working against one another."

The research on these three aspects of life are widely connected. It has been found that the most under consumed nutrients for most American's are calcium, dietary fiber, and vitamin D, which all have an important role in sleep.

Mental health, obesity, and metabolic disorders (like diabetes) have also been connected to sleep. In fact more and more research is linking lack of sleep to development of obesity which is one of the leading health concerns in the U.S.. Poor sleep leads to changes in hormones like insulin sensitivity, leptin, and cortisol. Lets break down these hormones.

Ghrelin (the "hunger hormone")- signals to the brain to eat and start storing fat.
Leptin (the "fullness hormone")- signals to the brain that there is enough energy stored in the body, or you are "full".

*These two hormones work together to regulate intake. Lack of sleeps interferes with both and causes overeating. In fact research found "subjects who only slept for 4 hours a night, 2 nights in a row, had an 18% decrease in leptin levels and a 28% increase in ghrelin levels".

3. Cortisol (the "fight-or-flight" hormone)- a stress hormone that is great in scenarios when you need to be more alert, but not good when you are trying to get a deep sleep. Lack of sleep causes an increase in cortisol levels creating a compounding problem.

Less sleep = More cortisol = Less deep sleep = More cortisol and so on.

4. Insulin- responsible for the movement of glucose from the blood into storage. Restless nights cause increased stress (see cortisol hormone) which also leads to more glucose in the blood which is a part of the "fight-or-flight" response. Again, this is helpful in a stressful situation when you need to be alert, but when this happens for an extended time it leads to insulin resistance. The body stops using insulin effectively because it is constantly being stimulated, resulting in diabetes.

So, how do you balance this all out?

Exercise

Exercising helps with stress management (think cortisol), reduces risk of many chronic diseases (including diabetes and insulin sensitivity), helps regulate energy levels in the day, and helps induce tiredness at night. Aim for moderate to vigorous exercise 150 minutes every week (about 30 minutes 5 days a week).

Nutrition

Work to reduce caffeine consumption, recommendations are no more than 200mg per drink with a maximum daily total of 400mg. Caffeine should also be consumed at least 8 hours before bedtime to give time for it to be removed from your body. So, if you want to be asleep by 10pm, no more caffeine after 2pm.

Caffeine sources include: coffee, tea, energy drinks, soda, dark chocolate

Alcohol, although it can make you feel sleepy, actually prevents your body from entering deep stages of sleep so you don't get the body and brain restoration that you need. Limit alcohol to no more than 1 drink per day for women or 2 for men, however if you notice sleep disturbance you may want to consider limiting further to only having a drink on special occasions.

High fat foods can cause increased symptoms of acid reflux which is a big sleep disturbance. Limit your fried foods, cream sauces, creamy dressings, chips, pastries, creamy soups, frozen meals, processed meats, and ice creams. Consume these foods at least 4-6 hours before you intend to go to bed.

*Foods that are high in unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, nuts, and avocados are not included here. These healthier type of fats help support brain and cell health without the symptoms of worsening acid reflux.

Spicy and acidic foods also cause increased acid reflux, so try eat these foods at least 4-6 hours before bed as well.

Refined carbohydrates or foods that are high in sugar and low in fiber should also be limited. These types of foods break down quickly causing blood sugar spikes and subsequently big blood sugar drops which can cause cortisol to be released and sleep to be interrupted. Refined carbs should be limited throughout the day, but especially a few hours before bed.

Other considerations are the size of your nighttime meals, feeling extremely full is not conducive to restful sleep, it may be better to have a bigger lunch and smaller dinner. Dehydration can also disrupt sleep so drink plenty of non-caffeinated drinks throughout the day as well as hydrating foods.

So what should you eat for better sleep?

A good balanced diet with plenty of hydration is the best way to promote restful sleep and energy throughout the day. This includes whole grains, plenty of fiber, and at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

Some foods are natural sources of melatonin (a hormone that helps with sleep) and others contain amino acids that help the body produce melatonin.

Try to stop eating 1-2 hours before bed so you don't feel full.

Some great foods that promote sleep include: