Tips to Sleep Better: Food + Diet

Tips to Sleep Better: Food + Diet

Here at Westpark Fitness, we care for the wellbeing of our members even when they are not onsite with us. This is why we are delighted to publish these ‘Tips to Sleep Better’ blogs to show you ways to optimise your sleep as a way to reach your health and fitness goals. Here we take a look at how food and diet can affect your sleep and offer tips to combat this and overall tips to sleep better.

Food at Night Time

Did you know that even when you are asleep, your body can still feel hungry and crave food? Just like a car needs fuel in its tank to perform any type of driving action, your body needs food to power it through any action – and this can include the action of sleeping. As such, your sleep can be optimised if you have a light snack an hour or two before bed.* This bit of fuel in the tank, so to speak, will provide you with energy while you sleep through to the next morning. Due to this, you are less likely to stir in your sleep and less likely to wake up as your body subconsciously seeks food.

Tip: Have a light snack and hour or two before bed to provide your body with enough energy to power you through the action of sleeping until the next morning.

*Note: This may not be advisable for those who experience acid reflex and / heartburn as these are negative aspects in themselves, as well as negatively affecting your sleep in this instance.

Sleepy Ingredients

Some foods contain ingredients that are processed by the body in a way that can aid with your sleep and keep it from being disrupted. The likes of magnesium, tryptophan, serotonin and melatonin can all play their part and so seeking foods and drinks that contain these can help to optimise your sleep overall. However it must be stated too that there is no one size fits all in that some people may react differently to different foods and drinks and have their sleep affected either for better or worse. As such, perhaps keep a food diary or log to record what works for you and your sleep pattern.

Tip: Learn to identify the foods and drinks that make you feel tired (after ruling out any allergies or intolerances) and incorporate these into your diet as a tip to sleep better.

Caffeine

As we all know, caffeine has a very energising effect on the body and is often specifically used for a boost of energy when the body is feeling drained and sluggish. The likes of tea, coffee and energy drinks are some of the most popular sources of caffeine. In fact such is the prevalence of tea and coffee in modern consumption that de-caffeinated versions of them are also become popular. As such, an obvious tip to sleep better is to avoid these from late afternoon onwards. While caffeine and energy stimulating foods and drinks have their uses, try and limit these to early in the day.

Tip: Limit your caffeine intake and try to avoid it altogether from late afternoon in the day onwards to that your body can naturally become tired and fatigued in time for bed.

By implementing these tips to sleep better into your lifestyle and routine, you are sure to see the benefits of having more quality sleep when it comes to reaching your health and fitness goals. At Westpark Fitness you can also make an appointment with Health Matters, which is based here, to learn more about how your body works and can react to different things. You can also read our tips to sleep better blog about how technology can affect your sleep here.