If you are one of those people who have difficulty sleeping or experience sleep-related health problems, such as #insomnia, #chronicfatigue, and #mentalfog, there is hope. Making a few #microchanges to your eating patterns could actually get you to sleep like a baby once again.
What we eat determines how well we sleep. You have to resolve your gut issues to achieve optimal sleep and vice versa- adequate sleep keeps our gut healthy. As Ayurveda had said many years back, most diseases start in the gut. Hippocrates, the father of medicine said the same.
The human genome has 20000 genes while the microbial genome is 3.3 million genes. Only 1% of us as an organism is human. 99% of us is actually microorganisms. And the microscopic bacteria weigh about 5 pounds just in our colon.
These microbes in our gut are responsible for digesting food, making vitamins, neurotransmitters and hormones. They are also responsible for maintaining our weight by optimizing metabolism and regulating sleep.
Chemicals in our food, toxins in our environment, overuse of antibiotics, acid blocking drugs, anti inflammatory drugs as well as antibiotics and hormones being used in animals in factory farms which are then consumed by us cause dysbiosis or imbalances in our gut bacteria.
The microflora have important functions like forming hundreds of bioactive compounds including B vitamins, neurotransmitters like GABA(that has a calming relaxing effect on us), 5HTP a precursor of serotonin which in turn is a precursor of melatonin the sleep hormone that induces deep sleep and also helps in better immunity.
It is not only true that gut affects our sleep but inadequate sleep also affects our gut by depleting the B vitamins and neurotransmitters resulting in stress. And stress affects our gut health.
So here is what can be done to improve our gut health and get a better quality of sleep.
•Eat plenty of plant based foods that are whole which will have fibers. Fibers are the food for our good gut bacteria. So foods like fruits and vegetables and brown rice, whole wheat, legumes like beans and lentils. Processed and refined foods like white rice, white flour and refined sugars are devoid of fibers and does not provide food for our gut bacteria. Lack of fibers lead to the thriving of our bad gut bacteria. Avoid cakes, biscuits, muffins and other white flour items that are highly processed. Excess fats including trans fats in processed and packaged foods affect our gut adversely.
•Fermented foods like plant based yogurts, idli, dosa, khimchi, tempeh, sauerkraunt etc are probiotics for our gut that keeps our gut healthy.
•Leafy green vegetables rich in minerals like magnesium also help in good sleep.
•It's important to maintain optimum Vit D and Vit B12 levels for better sleep.
•Limit dairy, poultry and meats as they are devoid of any fibers and are full of antibiotics and hormones that does us more harm than good.
By eating the nutrients that support your gut health, you can turn your daily meals every single day into an opportunity to radically transform your sleep. Using food as medicine could be the quickest way to sleep well as I have observed in many of my patients.
References
Uebanso T, Shimohata T, Mawatari K, Takahashi A. Functional Roles of B-Vitamins in the Gut and Gut Microbiome. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2020 Sep;64(18):e2000426. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.202000426. Epub 2020 Aug 19. PMID: 32761878.
Li Y, Hao Y, Fan F, Zhang B. The Role of Microbiome in Insomnia, Circadian Disturbance and Depression. Front Psychiatry. 2018;9:669. Published 2018 Dec 5. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00669
MLA Li, Yuanyuan et al. “The Role of Microbiome in Insomnia, Circadian Disturbance and Depression.” Frontiers in psychiatry vol. 9 669. 5 Dec. 2018, doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00669
APA Li, Y., Hao, Y., Fan, F., & Zhang, B. (2018).
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