EAT YOUR WAY TO A DREAMY SLEEP
Yes, you should cut down on sugar, carbs and alcohol, but as our essential series reveals, the secret to a good night’s rest lies in the ‘brain’ in your gut
What you eat and when you eat it has an enormous effect on your body clock, your sleep and, by extension, how many years you will live. By ‘eat’ we mean pretty much anything you take in — food, beverages, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, medication, herbal remedies and supplements.
Each play a role in either keeping you from deep, restful sleep or nudging your body that much closer to your optimal rhythm.
One of the latest discoveries in sleep research is the link between gut health and a good night’s rest. It makes sense. Your entire body — including your digestive system — is designed to have predictable cycles of sleep, wakefulness and eating. and by upsetting that pattern, you throw your body off-kilter, gut and all.
an out-of-rhythm life can create an out-of-rhythm gut, but an out-of-rhythm gut can also create an out-of-rhythm life.
Conversely, good gut health can lead to good sleep. So, the healthier your gut, the easier it is to nod off and stay slumbering.
Getting your gut in order is therefore the place to start when it comes to ensuring the right amount and quality of sleep.
trillions of microorganisms, mainly bacteria, live in your gastrointestinal tract. this is called your microbiome.
Some of these bacteria are beneficial, or health-promoting, while others trigger disease and inflammation. the goal is to keep this constantly shifting balance in favour of the good guys.
Far from only digesting your food, the gut is also home to a second nervous system, which is constantly communicating with your brain and the rest of the central nervous system.
It influences hormone production, immune system function, appetite, digestion, metabolism, behaviour, mood and stress responses.
ThIS connection is known as the microbiome-gutbrain axis. the gut is the largest endocrine organ in the body and regulates the secretion of neurotransmitters [brain chemicals] such as cortisol, tryptophan and serotonin.
It’s also central to the immune system. Seventy per cent of the cells that make up your immune system surround your gut, and your gut flora interact with these cells to help regulate your immune response.
For that reason, you mess with your microbiome at your peril — an unbalanced gut is linked to everything from bloating, trapped wind and constipation, to anxiety, depression and skin conditions such as acne and eczema.
and it can affect your sleep. this is because your body’s master clock works in synergy with your microbiome’s clock.
If one of these rhythms is disrupted, the other goes, too. Jet lag, for example, disrupts the diversity of gut flora.
and when either the circadian rhythm [the natural cycle of your body clock] or microbiome rhythm is upset, it creates a vicious cycle. Glucose intolerance, weight gain and metabolic changes can occur — all of which affect sleep and further distort the overall rhythm of your system.
the good news is that a malfunctioning gut can be healed. Your microbiome, like your body, is designed for predictable cycles of sleep, wakefulness and eating. So as you bring yourself back into rhythm by adopting new habits, your gut will follow suit.
and one of the biggest influences on your microbiome’s health is your diet.
THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE EATING
FIRSTLY, avoid sugary, starchy and processed foods. those with lots of sugar and easily digested starch, such as pastries and processed breads, are mostly broken down in the small intestine. this can result in the proliferation of harmful bacteria, leading to bacterial overgrowth there.
Secondly, try to avoid glyphosatesprayed crops. Glyphosate is a herbicide applied to a range of crops to kill weeds. It is also used as a drying agent before wheat and barley are harvested. Shop organic where you can, or grow your own.
also, where possible, bypass the overuse of antibiotics. Sure, every so often a raging infection may warrant such treatment, but much of the time they’re unnecessary and can lead to potentially dangerous antibiotic resistance.
Inside the gut, they can be indiscriminate killers, taking out the good bacteria along with the bad. If your doctor prescribes them, ask whether alternative treatments are available.
Prebiotics are fibres in food that most of our digestive system can’t break down, but the bacteria in our microbiome certainly can.
they are like microflora superfoods, giving your ‘good’ bacteria the high-octane fuel they need to do all the things that keep your gut healthy. this includes protecting the gut wall, digesting your food, keeping the bad guys in check, contributing to your immune system and coordinating with your central nervous system.
Foods rich in prebiotic fibre include garlic, onions, radishes, leeks, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, broccoli, lentils and chickpeas.
Fermented foods are also good news. Sauerkraut, yoghurt, kimchi (Korean fermented cabbage), miso and kefir (fermented milk) are loaded with beneficial bacteria that join forces with the good stuff in your gut.
research suggests that the newcomers help the long-time residents do a better job of protecting your health, so try to have a few servings every week.
although it’s always best to get your probiotics from food, you can also enjoy the advantages of fermented foods in easy supplement form, as a capsule or powder. If you are taking an antibiotic, balance it out with a high-quality probiotic to help keep your belly on an even keel.
remember, your gut is a microcosm of your body as a whole. the habits that are designed to keep you in rhythm and improve your overall health — exercising, cutting back on alcohol, quitting
smoking — will ultimately benefit your microbiome, and your sleep, at the same time.
GET OFF THE SUGAR ROLLER COASTER
In our advice on sleeping, we make it clear it is all about picking habits that work for you, and that there’s no need to adopt a monk-like existence. But when it comes to sugar, all that changes.
Today really should be when you get this sleep-sabotaging, brain-distorting, hormoneskewing, health-bombing rubbish out of your life.
Sugary foods and drinks take your hormones on a rollercoaster ride so you don’t register hunger the way you should, making you eat more — and more often — and then store those calories as fat.
It jacks up your reward hormones so you need increasingly bigger hits just to get that nice, tasty high.
Sound familiar? It should — sugar is as addictive as tobacco and alcohol. And speaking of alcohol, sugar in the form of fructose [fruit sugar] can be just as hard on your liver, which converts it into fat.
When eaten repeatedly, sugar can set you up for weight gain, high blood-sugar levels, inflammation, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, depression and infertility.
A 2016 study confirmed that a higher sugar intake is also associated with lighter, less restorative sleep and more night waking. Another study from Columbia University in the U.S. concluded that a diet high in refined carbs — particularly added sugars — is linked to a risk of insomnia, especially in women aged 50-plus.
And metabolising sugar uses up lots of magnesium, which you need to support levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep.
The truth is, you’re probably eating more sugar than you think. Anything that comes in a packet probably has some hidden in there, whether it’s for taste, as a cheap preservative, or just to keep you hooked.
These tend to be labelled as ‘added sugars’ and include cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and ‘natural’ sweeteners such as honey, agave, maple syrup and fruit juice. But unless a sugar is bound by fibre (as occurs naturally in fruit and vegetables), there’s no such thing as ‘healthy’ or ‘natural’.
Always check the labels before buying food products, especially condiments, snack bars and drinks, where sugar often lurks. ◼ adapted from Better Sleep, Better You by frank Lipman and neil parikh, to be published by thorsons on April 15 at £9.99. © frank Lipman and neil parikh 2021. to order a copy for £8.79 go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. delivery charges may apply. free UK delivery on orders over £20. promotional price valid until April 24, 2021.