We are in the Information Age. Tips, tricks, and tactics, left, right and centre.
But our brains aren’t made to consume, understand and remember all of this.
So we now have a world of people flailing about, trying to catch as much as they can, but often ending up clinging on to information that is false, barely useful, or irrelevant to them.
I’m keen to add to that problem as little as possible.
So before we begin, I wanted to make it clear: this article has been written to inform. For those who are interested in food, our bodies and our sleep.
This is not a “you must do this”, or even “you should do this”.
If you’re looking for the latter, here’s what’s most likely to make the biggest difference to the most people, and their sleep:
• Eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods
• Eat enough
• Avoid eating too near to bedtime
Focus there first. Or even just focus there exclusively, forever.
You can learn why they’re the “biggies”, along with a mix of other bits you might find interesting, below.
What should you eat?
Variety – the foundation of good sleep nutrition.
Let’s kick off with the first one. Variety.
There are a long list of nutrients available to us in the foods we eat, and our bodies need a certain amount of each to work at their best. One nutrient helps transport another. One keeps our muscles strong. Another helps our immune system thrive. The closer we get to meeting our nutritional needs, the better our body can do its jobs. But the further below the mark we go, the harder it becomes. It has to improvise, or simply not do things as well. Over time, nutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies can place extra strain on the body, and that can make getting good quality sleep more difficult too.
Another reason variety rocks is how it supports gut health. Our gut produces a whole range of hormones involved in digestion, appetite and other bodily functions. It also plays an important role in the production and regulation of compounds that influence sleep. Your gut benefits from a wide range of different foods, especially plants, so by eating a varied diet, you’re giving it the best chance to do its thing. Some say “make sure you have 30 plants a week”. I say “just eat as many plants as you can”. Counting may be good for your gut, but your brain has enough on.
Just a note with variety – I’m talking about nutrient-dense foods. Ultra-processed foods don’t count. That pizza, doughnut or tube of Pringles (guilty) is just taking up space. It’s like saying “I made you a playlist, it’s got loads of songs in it”, but half of them are white noise tracks.
Eat enough for your body and your sleep
Secondly, I mentioned eating enough.
It leads nicely on from the points above. It’s all well and good ticking off variety, but without quantity, it’s only half the job. A big reason we focus on variety is to increase the chances of hitting our nutritional needs. But the less you put in, the lower the chance of those needs being met. Hence why it’s important to gobble up enough.
Now there are many definitions of what “enough” is. But the most common, and the one I go for, is eating roughly the same amount of calories that you burn. That generally makes it easier to meet your nutritional needs without increasing the chances of gaining weight. Wearables often give you a number, or there are plenty of maintenance calorie calculators online if you’re curious.
But what if you’re working on your summer bod? Fab. You get beach body ready. But be careful not to overdo it.
When you don’t eat as much as your body needs, it has to work harder to find fuel, usually from stored body fat. But the more extreme you go, the more your body starts behaving as though food is scarce. That can increase stress hormones, making it harder to relax, get to sleep, stay asleep and enjoy good quality sleep.
Supplements and sleep
Now the Information Age has opened the doors to a tsunami of supplement advice.
“This one has everything in the world all at once, how useful!“
“If you’re not taking this you’re going to die young.“
“This is the reason you haven’t got x, y or z.”
Supplements can be useful. But there’s a hell of a lot of rubbish out there, so always do your research.
Good questions to ask are:
• Does this provide the nutrient I want in a dose that’s actually likely to do anything meaningful?
• Do I have good evidence that a lack of this nutrient is what’s causing my issue?
Because often the marketing is confusing. Some companies add ingredients to attract customers, but in quantities too small to have much effect. Others use cheeky strategies to make you think you have a problem, and that their supplement is the only solution. Even though you may not have a problem at all, or if you do, it could have many different causes.
At the moment, sleep seems to be having a moment. There are sleep supplements everywhere. And much of it is hype – either doing the two things mentioned above, or relying on ingredients supported by small or low quality studies.
But there are a couple that have more convincing evidence behind them. Magnesium, particularly if you’re deficient, has some of the strongest evidence among common sleep supplements. Zinc also shows promise, although the evidence isn’t quite as consistent.
I won’t go into the mechanisms, dosing or who they’re most appropriate for. That’s another essay in itself. But if you’re interested, they’re worth researching properly before ordering any. And always treat supplements as an experiment. Notice how you feel, sleep and perform before using them, then compare afterwards to see if they’re actually helping.
But really, if you eat a varied diet and eat enough, you’ll probably be alright. Especially if you’re not a high performing athlete, or someone chasing every last 0.1%.
When should you eat?
Meal timing and sleep
So we’ve covered what you should eat. Now we’ll cover when.
A large part of this revolves around your circadian rhythm. This is the term used to describe the way the systems in your body work together across a 24-hour period. Everything works best when your body knows roughly what time it is, so it can do the right things at the right time.
Light is the biggest cue for your body clock, but meal timing is one of several others.
Food is what scientists call a zeitgeber. It’s German for “time-giver”. When we eat, it provides another clue to our body about what time of day it might be. Regular meal timing can therefore help reinforce our daily rhythm, which is good news for sleep.
For many people, eating breakfast reasonably soon after waking can help reinforce the start of the day. Likewise, avoiding food close to bedtime helps signal that the day is winding down, making it easier to prepare for sleep.
But that’s not the only potential side effect of eating late. Potentially the biggest is digestive load – the amount of work your stomach has to do. The higher your digestive load, the higher your heart rate and core temperature are likely to be, making it harder to get to sleep, stay asleep and enjoy good quality sleep. Asking your body to digest a huge portion of casserole while also trying to settle into sleep isn’t the easiest combination.
The blanket advice is to avoid food within three hours of bedtime, and that’s what I’d suggest. It helps reinforce that it’s night-time, while also giving your stomach less to do when you’re trying to sleep. If you do need to eat later, keeping the meal lighter is generally more important than obsessing over exactly what’s on the plate.
Macronutrients and sleep
One thing I wanted to touch on whilst we’re here is macronutrient timing. When should you be eating proteins, fats and carbs?
This section is more for those who’ve read about this before. It’s basically my way of saying, “there are pros and cons to loads of different approaches, but it’s probably not worth worrying about unless you really need to.”
Some advice doing the rounds at the moment is to eat plenty of carbs before bed, because carbohydrate intake may make tryptophan more available to the brain, supporting serotonin production, which then contributes to melatonin – the hormone that helps regulate sleep. Cool. So it might help sleep.
But you’ll also hear advice to avoid carbs at night because you don’t need as much energy, and consistently eating more than your body needs contributes to weight gain over time. Also fair.
So the advice is mixed. It depends who you are and what you’re trying to achieve.
If better sleep is your only priority, some people find a lighter, slightly more carb-focused evening meal works well.
If daytime energy, muscle growth or body composition are your priority, your evening meal may look more protein heavy.
If your priority is peace of mind, eat whatever works for you. Just try not to eat it within three hours of bedtime.
Meat’s role in all of this
I think it’d be rude to write a piece for The Butchers Quarter without mentioning meat.
Here’s a few meat-related info nuggets that may tickle your brain.
Most meat is nutrient-dense, especially high-quality, well-reared produce like the team provide at BQ. Lean cuts provide excellent amounts of protein, while options like liver are among the most nutrient-rich foods you can eat. Different meats shine in different ways, but they all contribute nutrients your body can use to support health, recovery and sleep.
Meat, or protein in general, also helps you feel fuller for longer. This can be really useful after a bad night’s sleep. When we’re sleep deprived, our hunger hormone, ghrelin, tends to increase. That’s one reason you’re more likely to give that snack cupboard a good seeing to after a rough night. Protein is generally more filling than carbohydrates or fats, so it can be your saviour on those sleepy days, especially if you’re trying to be good.
Finally, we mentioned earlier that protein takes a little more work to digest than carbohydrates. That’s one reason I generally recommend avoiding large, protein-heavy meals within that three-hour window. But if you do end up eating late, and you find yourself at a steak restaurant, maybe that’s your reason to order the smaller ribeye instead of the tomahawk if dinner’s crept a little later than planned.
Key takeaways
And that’s that.
Three key points:
• Eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods.
• Eat enough.
• Don’t eat too close to bedtime.
Surrounded by a bunch of insight you may have found interesting.
Once you’ve got those fundamentals pinned down, you can start thinking about the rest, if you want. But if you ever find yourself thinking, “this is getting a bit overwhelming”, dial it back to the basics. That’s not going to help your sleep either.
A belated introduction
I thought I’d get straight into the good stuff before a little self-indulgence. But if you’re interested in who I am and what my work is all about, this bit is for you.
I’m Tommy Graves, a CPD Accredited Sleep Coach on a mission to help more people understand the importance of sleep and how to do it well. Both are still far less understood than they should be.
At the heart of everything I do is the belief that if sleep became something that was understood and respected to the level it should be, we’d be happier, healthier and more successful, both as individuals and as a nation.
I have seen first hand just how powerful this stuff can be. Once upon a time, I was an insomniac. It escalated to an extreme level, resulting in extensive hospitalisation. I’ve experienced the difference in how life feels and how I perform between then and now, and it gets me very excited to think about the prospect of a population where more people can experience the same.
Most of my work is with businesses, helping reduce fatigue across workforces to improve wellbeing, productivity and performance, while reducing absenteeism and risk. I do this through group workshops and one-to-one coaching.
When capacity allows, I also work with individuals, coaching them through changes to their habits and sleep environment to transform the way they think, feel, connect and perform in every aspect of life.
If you’d like to learn more about how I can support you, your team or someone you care about, I’d love to hear from you: tommy@tgsleeptalking.com
Regardless, I hope this article has been useful, and I wish you the sweetest of dreams, always.
Tommy