How To Avoid Spoiling Your Sleep With Better Nutrition

 

Need Better Sleep, Start With Better Nutrition

Health first 

Do you believe that you get a good night’s sleep by just binge-watching your favorite show and falling asleep? You may assume that the best way to have a good sleep is to lie down on your bed, relax, dim the lights and start the latest show on Netflix. But, it is not quite true. It does not work that way. To have a better sleep, it is highly essential to have better nutrition. 

Since I was a teenager, I used to believe that sleep is not important as long as you’re getting at least 5-6 hours of sleep. My mum was always strict about sleeping at 10 pm and waking up early. But, I was never an early bird. I always denied the scientific facts for my own guilty pleasure. Many times, I shoved all the junk food in my tummy and felt pleased. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Usually, to have a great sleep, only when your organs are healthy and happy, you sleep peacefully. 

What have your organs got to do with this?

Every organ of your body is interconnected. When you give your body the right nutrients and minerals, you stay healthy. Normally, when your body is physically healthy, naturally your brain is active and emotionally healthy as well. Eating the right food is significantly important for your body to procure all nutrients to prevent yourself from illness and helps you boost your immune power.

Sometimes, when you eat junk, it interrupts your organ system. It disrupts the ongoing process and even troubles you quite often. It is because the fast food we eat is unhealthy. We usually don’t recognize the unhealthy oils containing the food items we order from outside. We are also unaware of the time it was prepared. It is highly important to take care of your health in the easiest way possible by eating home-cooked food. To get better sleep, I would highly recommend you to get around 7-9 hours of sleep. 

What to consume, in order to be healthy? 

The best strategy applied to get better sleep is by eating healthy food rich in carbohydrates. Food consisting of wheat, oats, bread, rice, potato. A bowl full of such nutritious food is healthy for you to eat, but also make sure to eat it three hours before you sleep. Whatever you chew needs to be completely digested so that you sleep well. You can also consume protein foods like cottage cheese, cheese, egg, fish, and legumes. Leafy vegetables like spinach, broccoli, cabbage, soya beans, and chicken are nutritious and healthy if you eat homemade. 

Make sure you do not consume much alcohol and spicy food. Spicy food really triggers the acid in your stomach. You must eat food that helps you digest easily before you sleep. It is better to avoid spicy items before sleep as it can cause acid reflux and get worse, further irritating your air passage. The spices cause heat burns and lead to indigestion. As spicy foods increase your body heat, it gradually increases the temperature while sleeping; which is not clinically suggested. You need to maintain a neutral temperature when you sleep. Hence, it is very important to avoid spices as much as possible. Also, try to avoid fatty foods as the fat content directly connects to cholesterol. The more unhealthy fat you consume before sleep, the more hours you will sleep, feeling drowsy the entire day. This leads to weight gain, and even worse, obesity. So make sure to avoid consuming high-content fat foods. It takes more than three hours for high-protein foods to break down, such as chicken, mutton. Therefore, to avoid the indigestion disrupting your good sleep pattern, avoid consuming it before sleep. 

My mother always says, “What feels tasty on the tip of your tongue is not tasty for your tummy.” It means, you never usually foresee the pros and cons. We humans have the natural tendency to get attracted towards food that looks pretty and tastes scrumptious. But, in reality, it is indeed the food that we assume looks dull and boring ends up being healthy for our body. It may not look decadent or taste good on the tip of our tongue, but it actually helps. 

In South India, the common tradition people have is to consume the most easily digestible food like Idli, Dosa, Idiyappam. These items are made into a batter and either steamed or roasted over the pan. The batter is made up of rice and black gram finely ground into a paste with a pinch of salt for taste. If you haven’t tried, you must. After living for several years in North India, consuming fatty food of high protein and refined flour, I must say I am in awe and also grateful to be maintaining my health by eating the most easily digestible food. Consuming lighter food before sleep helps in better digestion and saves you from indescribable trouble and consequences you could face in future. 

In conclusion, eat as much light yet healthy food as you can. It is guaranteed that way for you to have a peaceful and better sleep than usual. Try it for a week and you will see a drastic change in your sleep pattern. 

-ca