2022-02-28, 11:54 PM
The surprising links between what you eat and how well you sleep
by Ruth Alexander
by Ruth Alexander
Quote:Melatonin, the hormone that promotes sleep and which rises in the evening, comes from a dietary amino acid called tryptophan. "So, if the hormone that regulates your sleep is produced entirely from an amino acid that must be consumed in the diet, then it makes sense that diet would be important in regulating sleep," she says.
And yet Dr St-Onge couldn't find any studies focusing on this relationship. So she and her team began looking at research into other health matters, which had recorded participants' sleep and dietary habits. Examining that data, a clear pattern emerged, she says.
Individuals who followed a Mediterranean-style diet - eating lots of fruits and vegetables, fish and whole grains - had a 35% lower risk of insomnia than those who didn't, and were 1.4 times more likely to have a good night's sleep.
So what is so sleep-inducing about that diet? Foods such as fish, nuts and seeds are high in melatonin-producing tryptophan.
And a number of small studies have shown that some specific foods such as tomatoes, tart cherries and kiwi fruit, which contain melatonin, may help people fall asleep more easily and stay asleep for longer.