Sleep Hygiene and the Role of Diet in Insomnia
Quality sleep is essential to living a healthy life and maintaining well-being. Insomnia is a sleep disorder that is characterised either by difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep, or waking early and not being able to get back to sleep. Insomnia can be acute, not lasting more than a week, or chronic lasting more than 3 months, and affecting sleep over 3 days a week. Nutrition and lifestyle play a significant role in sleep wellness, as it can manage insomnia through supporting hormones needed to induce sleep, improve sleep quality, and increase sleep duration.
Lifestyle
Ensure you have good sleep hygiene practices this includes:
Start winding down 30mins- 1 hour before bed – no screens including phone
Have a bedtime routine, this will prepare your body for sleep. In this hour you can take a hot shower, have a tea, read, journal, paint, or spend time with your loved ones.
Ensure your environment is dark, quiet, and cool, consider an eye mask to help with this.
If you can’t fall asleep leave the room go read, journal or do something boring (stretch) outside the room and come back when you are tired.
Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day for a routine
Engage in regular exercise every day but avoid high-intensity exercise 3-4 hours before bed
Avoid long naps during the day
Reduce stress, find your triggers, and work through these
Diet
A healthy whole-food diet can improve sleep:
Ensure adequate protein throughout the day, at least 20-30g of protein with each main meal to assist with sleep onset
Don’t skip meals… breakfast!
Decrease simple carbohydrates like added sugars and refine grains > increase complex carbohydrates such as fibre, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
Ensure adequate vitamin D, magnesium, calcium, B6, and B12 to support sleep onset, quality, and duration
Aim to not have coffee or stimulants after midday