Your sleep hygiene is important; in fact, your sleeping habits are everything if you want to go to bed without a problem. The mattress is an essential part that will make your nights memorable, but there are many other elements that matter. Indeed, many environmental and physiological factors have an impact on the quality of your sleep. One of the elements of your sleep hygiene that has an influence on this important moment of the day is without a doubt nutrition.
What I Need to Know About Sleep
First, you have to know that sleep is partly related to different hormones that can stimulate drowsiness. These hormones are called serotonin and melatonin. It is by interacting with these hormones and the hormonal balance that nutrition has an impact on the quality and the quantity of sleep. There are two main categories of food when talking about their effect on sleep: food that helps you fall asleep and food you should avoid before going to bed.
Sleep Hygiene: The Best Food To Fall Asleep
What you need to know about the products that belong to the category that helps us sleep is that they often contain a lot of Tryptophan, an amino acid that is part of a sleep hormone’s production: the serotonin. Among foods that have an important quantity of tryptophan, we can find many dairy products. That explains why a bowl of hot milk with honey is often recommended as part of a good sleep hygiene.
Another type of ingredient that is part of a good sleep hygiene is carbohydrate. All food containing slowly absorbed sugar, like carbohydrates, should be preferred at dinner time because of the long period of time it takes your body to digest it. Eating pasta, whole grain rice, potatoes, whole wheat bread, etc. before night should be encouraged to ensure a longer energy intake. Slow digestion is a good sleep hygiene habit. It extends the period of time the body is producing serotonin and also helps prevent cravings in the middle of the night.
Furthermore, to help you in having the best sleep experience, some beverages can help put your body to rest. Some teas or herbal infusions have effects on the nervous system and on the sleep process. Linden, verbena, chamomile, are some plants or trees known to be part of a good sleep hygiene because of their relaxing virtues when used in a hot drink. Moderate consumption of these liquids is, however, recommended for your bladder.
For the food, you should not eat before going to bed, it is often considered as food that has a high energetic intake, which can stimulate the nervous system. Among these elements, we can find all beverages that contain caffeine or other stimulating substances such as coffee, alcohol, sodas and energy drinks. It is also highly recommended to avoid all meals with a high proportion of fat like burgers, chips, butter, meat, etc. All meals that can be considered as spicy should also be banned before going to bed because they are hard to digest.
What really matters when we want to experience the best sleep is the energy intake. If it doesn’t fulfill our needs, it can be the cause of many sleep problems. Not enough calories can create multiple nocturnal awakenings because of hunger. On the other hand, too many calories can be hard for the digestive system.
With these little tips about good dietary habits before sleeping combined with the Polysleep mattress, you have all the ingredients to experience the best sleep ever.
