{Sleep & Food}

An article recently mentioned at Well + Good NYC pointed out research on sleep from the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania. Some people rarely get a full, deep sleep, but this article shows that eating the right foods can make having sound nights of shut-eye possible. In short, the results prove that very short sleepers consume the most calories, while the longest sleepers take in the fewest.

"...people who get the ideal seven to eight hours of sleep per night have more well-rounded diets than those who sleep too much (9 hours or more) or too little (six hours or less)."






While there are still some questions as to why this is true, Michael A. Grandner, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and lead author on the study, speculates that “Diets with less variety may not give people the nutritional coverage needed to support healthy sleep”.

The study used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to evaluate the eating and sleeping patterns of a group of men and women. They found:

• certain sleep patterns are associated with different intake levels of specific nutrients and of calories overall
• people who sleep less than five hours per night drink less tap water and consume less lycopene (an antioxidant found in orange and red-hued produce like tomatoes and watermelon) compared to normal sleepers. 
• those who sleep five to six hours per night take in less vitamin C and selenium, a mineral found in nuts, meat and shellfish that may protect against cancer. 

Here is what Grandner suggests the best diet for sleep probably looks like:

 “A good sleeper's diet is most likely one that has a variety of different types of foods, with more complete nutritional coverage, and not too much high-calorie food.”

Bottom line:

For a good nights sleep,  remember to: drink lots of water, watch your calorie intake, eat a variety of fruits and veggies for nutritional coverage, eat some tomatoes, and eat foods high in vitamin C and selenium such as nuts, meat and shellfish. 

Sleep tight!