- Health, Fitness & Weight Loss
- Sport Specific Performance
- Nutrition
- Adapting Recipes
- Avoiding the Runs while Running
- Breakfast Boycotters Beware!
- Dentist Dollars
- Don't De-Tox, De-Junk!
- Eat Well to Stay Healthy this Winter
- Food Additives
- Get Grainwise
- Healthy Eating - It's a Balancing Act!
- Healthy from the Inside Out
- How Alcohol can Contribute to your Weight
- How Food Choices can Influence your Sleep
- How Iron Deficiency Impairs Performance
- Is Sugar the New Fat?
- Improving your Power to Weight Ratio
- Portion Patrol and Control
- Sports Drinks - Do they Work?
- Supermarket Shopping Survival
- Sustainable Eating Practices
- Ten Top Tips when Out Eating
- Vitamin D - The Sunshine Vitamin
- Will Vitamin Supplements Keep the Bugs at Bay?
- Training with Specific Conditions
- References
How Food Choices can Influence your Sleep
How your Sleep Patterns can be Influenced by your Food Choices
When we sleep, we usually have periods of deep sleep and REM sleep (rapid eye movement). During deep sleep there is an increase in the release of growth hormone, responsible for the repair and recovery of muscle and tissue cells. This type of sleep also influences our immune response making deep sleep vital for optimal health and wellness. REM sleep is important for our mental and emotional wellbeing, our decision making and thought processes.
How much Sleep do you Need?
Sleep deprivation can have a profound affect on the body. Eight hours is optimal, seven hours is acceptable but less than six hours and you significantly increase the risk of impaired cognitive and/or motor function.
If you don’t get enough sleep, you may not recover as well from exercise, increase the risk of illness and prolong recovery if you’re already sick. It can also alter the levels of the hormones that affect your appetite and influence the way we process and store carbohydrates. Together, these increase your risk of becoming overweight and all the problems that are associated with it.
Sleep deprivation can also cloud your judgment, increasing the likelihood of making mistakes. Did you know that fatigue was a major factor in the Three Mile Island disaster in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986, and the disastrous launch of the Challenger in 1986……food for thought isn’t it, especially given that many outdoor activities, particularly those around water and mountaineering rely heavily on people being ‘on the ball’.
How to get a Better Nights Sleep
The nutrient that has the biggest impact on the quality and quantity of sleep is caffeine. Caffeine present in tea, coffee, energy drinks, some vitamin waters and soft drink, has an extremely long half-life of between six to eight hours. That means that it takes approximately 6-8 hours for half of the caffeine to be metabolized in the body.
Because caffeine is a stimulant and works on your central nervous system, it will, if taken at the wrong time, affect your sleep patterns. When this happens you are more likely to be tired throughout the next day and use caffeine as a ‘pick me up’ and a vicious cycle begins.
I can certainly appreciate that some people just can’t go without their morning coffee but my best advice would be to aim to make your afternoons "caffeine free" (i.e. consume no caffeinated beverages after lunch).
By Kath Fouhy, BSc, PG DipDiet, NZRD - 20/09/09