5 ways nutrition can help you sleep better tonight

More and more, we are learning about the benefits of getting the 7-9 hours of sleep each and every night. Lack of sleep affects everything from ability to concentrate and perform well at work and in our training sessions, to increasing risk of mental health conditions and obesity.

Here are 5 quick ways nutrition can help you sleep better:

  1. Avoid caffeine 10 hours before bed

    Caffeine is a stimulant, so impacts our ability to get good quality sleep. It also hangs around in your body for hours afterwards. Having your last coffee 10 hours before bed means it will be well out of your system, so less likely to affect your sleep.

  2. Avoid alcohol

    Whilst it may feel like alcohol helps you sleep better, it actually interrupts REM sleep, which is the deep, restorative sleep. Interruption of REM sleep is why after a few wines, you will often wake feeling tired, even if you have gotten enough hours of shut eye.

  3. Include milk before bed

    Milk helps stimulate production of tryptophan, which is a precursor for melatonin, the hormone which helps us sleep. That old wives tale of ‘warm milk before bed’ isn’t such a tale after all!

  4. Finish eating at least 2 hours before bed

    This means you wont feel so full when you go to bed, and your body wont be working hard to digest your food, and help you sleep simultaneously.

  5. Include carbs
    Not consuming enough carbohydrate has been shown to significantly impact sleep, by disturbing rest over night. Athletes who consumed a high carbohydrate meal benefited from increased REM sleep, and decreased light sleep, wakefulness.

And also…

Have a routine

Whilst not strictly related, having a routine in the evening, which helps you feel organised for the next day is ideal for helping you feel ‘ready’ for bed when you hop in, and will save you time the following morning as well (hello more sleep!)

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Zac Zacharia (Managing Director) has been assisting clients to create wealth and secure their futures for over 14 years.

He is also an accomplished presenter and educator

Co-authoring the popular investment book, Property vs Shares.