How Foods May Affect Our Sleep

[Zorro]

A growing body of research suggests that the foods you eat can affect how well you sleep, and your sleep patterns can affect your dietary choices.

This has not been a very good year for sleep.

With the coronavirus pandemic, school and work disruptions and a contentious election season contributing to countless sleepless nights, sleep experts have encouraged people to adopt a variety of measures to overcome their stress-related insomnia. Among their recommendations: engage in regular exercise, establish a nightly bedtime routine and cut back on screen time and social media.

But many people may be overlooking another important factor in poor sleep: diet. A growing body of research suggests that the foods you eat can affect how well you sleep, and your sleep patterns can affect your dietary choices.

Researchers have found that eating a diet that is high in sugar, saturated fat and processed carbohydrates can disrupt your sleep, while eating more plants, fiber and foods rich in unsaturated fat — such as nuts, olive oil, fish and avocados — seems to have the opposite effect, helping to promote sound sleep.

Much of what we know about sleep and diet comes from large epidemiological studies that, over the years, have found that people who suffer from consistently bad sleep tend to have poorer quality diets, with less protein, fewer fruits and vegetables, and a higher intake of added sugar from foods like sugary beverages, desserts and ultra-processed foods. But by their nature, epidemiological studies can show only correlations, not cause and effect. They cannot explain, for example, whether poor diet precedes and leads to poor sleep, or the reverse.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/10/well/eat/sleep-foods-diet.html

[GemDigger]

1. Nah, not what I eat but having to get up to pee every two hours is a

sleep killer. I pee more during my 8 hours of sleep than I do in the 16 hours I am awake.

If I ate a bowl of chili and went straight to bed then it would be my stupidity (choice of food) and not the chili that is the cause of my heartburn/can't sleep night.

[Skittles]

3. hey CatLady

I used to wake up with backaches so I gave in and bought a pricey Tempur-pedic bed and that did wonders for me

[Skittles]

5. go in a store and test them out

negotiate the price down if you can, and if you need to, arrange a payment plan....it's worth it.....or, try other beds out - - stick to the sturdier mattresses, nothing super soft......get the written agreement that you can try for a certain amount of time, too, in case you decide it's not for you

[myccrider]

7. I have a really bad back,

but a thick memory foam topper on my, admittedly, old mattress made it worse. Not enough support. I ended up dropping a chunk of change on a fancy adjustable bed, regular box spring firm mattress with normal pillow topper. It has improved my back and my sleep by better than 50%. My chronic back problem is from a genetic condition, so I’m satisfied, and pleasantly surprised, with that level of improvement.

Point is that memory foam/Tempurpedic isn’t for everyone. Definitely get a return clause when you buy.

[Zorro]

8. We have a Tempur-pedic bed also

I get a deep and restful night's sleep, too.

What impresses me is the Sleeptracker AI app that came with the setup; the frame/mattress sensors measure nightly light sleep/deep sleep/REM sleep/awake time, heart rate, breath rate/snoring (the frame can adjust automatically to a less snore-prone configuration when excessive snoring is detected), and air quality (the aq index monitor even senses when I pass gas during the night!).

I guess I'm surrendering some personal private information to the app's AI, but I'm getting too old to really care too much about that.

[Skittles]

9. heh

my sleep is tracked on my Fitbit - the hours are pretty dreadufl (I'm a 12 hour night shift worker and chronic insomniac) but at least I don't wake up with backaches. It finally got through to me that I needed to get a QUALITY bed and I'm very happy with it.