How easily do you fall asleep at night? Do you sleep as soon as your head hits the pillow, or do you tend to toss and turn for hours? Do you wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep?
A good sleep is one of the most important pillars of health, which часто is being pushed into the background. Letting sleep fall by the wayside can negatively impact almost every aspect of health, from cognition to hormones, mood, energy, sex drive, and more.
I always say that the use of food as medicine not only affects the
quality of your sleep, but also the length of your sleep, your sleep drive, and
almost every pillar of health (and general health) related to sleep.
I've spent decades helping patients optimize their sleep through nutrition, and I've compiled my experiences in an extensive sleep master class. In it, you'll find exactly how I use food as medicine (both what to enjoy and what to avoid) to support faster, deeper, and better sleep at night. Here is a little foretaste:
How to Eat Your Way to
a Better Sleep.
The key to getting a better night's sleep is prioritizing foods that help balance your blood sugar and supply your gut with beneficial probiotics and prebiotics.
Research now shows that a variety of gut bacteria are responsible for the synthesis of things like B vitamins, GABA and 5-HTP, all of which are essential for sleep (as well as more energy, stimulation). This means that eating whole foods that cultivate a healthy and thriving gut microbiome and keep blood sugar levels in balance also aid in quality recovery.
With this in mind, my ideal daily meal plan for sleep support looks something like this:
For breakfast I recommend two to three eggs and spinach, mushrooms,
peppers and onions sautéed in grass butter, ghee or coconut oil. It's a quick,
well-rounded meal with healthy fats, proteins, and a small amount of low
carbohydrates. This combination helps keep your blood sugar in balance and is
high in fiber that will keep your gut bacteria happy.
Lunch consists of a green salad with salmon, avocado, and artichokes (a
wonderful source of gut-healthy prebiotic fiber) drizzled with olive oil and
balsamic vinegar. Again, this is a well-balanced, high-fiber meal that should
fill you up by dinner. (But if it doesn't, snack on a handful of nuts or seeds,
hard-boiled eggs, or pasture-grown jerky.)
Dinner consists of a plate of Brussels sprouts, onions, garlic and
mushrooms, drizzled with avocado oil and baked, a palm-sized serving of grilled
chicken and possibly half a medium-sized baked, grilled chicken and possibly
half a medium-sized baked, gemplatz, gorn, size ,. The addition of fermented
foods such as sauerkraut or kimchi promotes intestinal health and sleep.
Eating your meals at similar times each day can put your body into a rhythmic
rhythm, был also helps you feel tired at the same time each night. I recommend
having your last meal two to three hours before bed to give yourself time to
transition to sleep mode. This gives your body a chance to fully digest your
last meal before you lie down, so it can focus fully on sleep instead of
digesting it.
In addition to turning off feeding before bed, turn off your devices, smartphones, televisions, computers, etc. and turn off your lights. Your sleep drive is directly affected by light, so reducing your exposure to light at night (and bright light exposure in the morning) can significantly improve sleep.