Tired of tossing and turning? Your dinner plate might be the culprit!
We've all experienced those frustrating nights where sleep feels like a distant dream, with our minds buzzing at 2 AM. While an occasional restless night is perfectly normal, if you find yourself frequently struggling to drift off or waking up feeling more drained than when you went to bed, it could be a sign that your daily habits are sabotaging your slumber. And according to Sophie Bertrand, a nutritionist associated with Abbott’s Lingo, a wearable device that monitors glucose levels continuously, your diet might be the key player.
Bertrand highlights that the timing and composition of your meals can significantly influence your ability to sleep soundly. She emphasizes the importance of finishing your last meal a good two to three hours before you plan to sleep. Why? Because eating too close to bedtime can lead to a surge in glucose and insulin levels. This surge, in turn, can hinder the release of growth hormones and send signals of wakefulness to your body, essentially telling it to stay alert.
While many of us are aware that late-night snacking isn't ideal for sleep, it's not just when you eat, but also what you eat. This applies not only to your evening meal but to your food choices throughout the entire day.
Bertrand shares three crucial nutritional factors that could be impacting your sleep quality and offers practical solutions:
1. Rethink Your Evening Meals
Bertrand suggests making low Glycaemic Index (GI) foods your go-to for dinner. Foods with a low GI are digested slowly, leading to a gradual and steady rise in blood sugar levels, unlike those that cause rapid spikes. These are often recommended for individuals managing diabetes or aiming for weight management. Foods are rated on a GI scale from 1 to 100, with a score of 55 or below considered low GI.
“Prioritize meals with a low GI—with high fiber, whole grains, and vegetables alongside protein,” Bertrand advises. “Avoid sugary drinks and fruit, and instead opt for complex carbohydrates allowing for a slow, steady release of energy to help support deep sleep.”
Examples of excellent low GI choices include:
- Legumes: Lentils, chickpeas, and beans
- Whole Grains: Wild rice, brown rice, and quinoa
- Vegetables: Broccoli, courgette, and leafy greens
- Lean Proteins: Chicken, tofu, fish, or eggs
If you use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) overnight, it can reveal glucose spikes or dips during your sleep, indicating your body's struggle to regulate these levels. Bertrand explains, “Glucose spikes at night can disrupt sleep quality, leading to restlessness and poor REM sleep. On the other hand, low glucose levels (hypoglycaemia) during the night can trigger a stress hormone response, disrupt restorative sleep, and lead to daytime tiredness and irregular sleep patterns if it occurs regularly.”
Even without a CGM, you can track your sleep patterns, food intake, and mealtimes in a journal to identify any specific foods or eating schedules that might be affecting your sleep. But here's where it gets controversial: Could consistently experiencing glucose spikes or dips at night, even if you don't feel it immediately, be a subtle sign of underlying metabolic issues that go beyond just sleep?
2. Embrace Magnesium-Rich Foods
Struggling with sleep often leads to recommendations for magnesium supplements. However, Bertrand points out that you can also boost your magnesium intake through your diet! “Magnesium helps regulate the neurotransmitters that calm the nervous system,” she explains. Incorporating magnesium-rich foods like pumpkin seeds, spinach, or almonds can promote mental and physical relaxation and help lower cortisol levels, a stress hormone that can interfere with sleep.
“Magnesium can help reduce that tired but wired feeling that many people experience when they can’t sleep,” says Bertrand.
3. Fuel Your Body Wisely Throughout the Day
So, you've adjusted your dinner to be low GI and eaten well in advance of bedtime. But what about the rest of your day? Bertrand stresses that it’s equally important. “Sleep quality starts at breakfast. If you’re experiencing many glucose spikes and crashes during the day, your baseline stress hormones remain elevated,” she tells Fit&Well. Elevated cortisol levels can impair your body's ability to produce melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep, affecting both the duration and quality of your rest.
For coffee lovers, Bertrand suggests understanding your personal caffeine tolerance. “Caffeine blocks adenosine, the chemical that helps your body feel sleepy, making it harder to fall into deep, restorative sleep because it stays in your system for hours,” she explains. While some people can enjoy an afternoon coffee without issue, for others, caffeine after midday can significantly impact sleep and recovery. If you're finding it hard to sleep, try moving your last coffee to earlier in the day and observe any changes.
And this is the part most people miss: While we focus on avoiding caffeine late in the day, could the type of coffee or even the additives (like sugar or cream) in our morning cup be contributing to daytime glucose fluctuations that then impact our sleep later?
What are your thoughts on the connection between diet and sleep? Do you find that certain foods or meal timings affect your ability to rest? Share your experiences and opinions in the comments below – we’d love to hear from you!
