Is it any use to look for foods rich in melatonin to sleep better, but I will go to bed late and, to make matters worse, have just had dinner? Ramón de Cangas, full academician at the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, dietician-nutritionist and biologist, analyzes how much truth there is in those long lists of ‘the best foods to sleep well’.
Melatonin: what is it and what is it for?
It is a hormone produced by our body whose function is to regulate the day and night and sleep and wake cycles. “It is released according to the cycles of light and darkness: it increases when there is darkness and decreases when there is light. As we age, melatonin production decreases,” says Ramón de Cangas. For this reason, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sleep and leads many people to look for ‘natural’ remedies to sleep like a baby again.
Is melatonin found in food?
There are foods rich in melatonin to sleep better. Or, at least, surround themselves with the belief that they will help us sleep like a baby. Additionally, our body can synthesize melatonin from certain amino acids present in certain foods, such as tryptophan. “As the production of melatonin decreases with age, a diet that includes this hormone or tryptophan in older people could help improve sleep,” advances the expert.
This ‘could’ should be interpreted for what it is: a small help, a small step that in no way means that there are foods that act like a sleeping pill. “There are foods with melatonin, but the doses necessary to achieve an effect in improving sleep usually require supplementation,” he clarifies.
Are there foods that help you sleep better?
There is little scientific evidence that eating a specific food has a decisive effect on helping us sleep. “That is, there are no magic foods, nor superfoods with clear effects on sleep,” says the academic.
What does influence is having a greater or lesser predisposition to falling asleep, maintaining a good body composition (avoiding excess fat and having good muscle tone) and following good dietary habits, such as the Mediterranean pattern, which include sources of tryptophan. . or melatonin.
What is the relationship between sleep and eating before bed?
It is not necessary to be an expert in nutrition to be clear that, if one night we have eaten or drunk more than necessary, for example, for a celebration, or we have dinner late because we have been studying or training until late, it will be a bad night. And they are two of the factors that influence the fact that 83.5% of young Spaniards have some nocturnal symptoms of insomnia, as revealed by a recent study by the MAPFRE FOUNDATION.
The evidence also shows that, although there are no foods with melatonin that help sleep in the strict sense of the phrase, there are foods that will interfere with sleep with heavy digestion or increasing difficulty falling asleep.
What not to have for dinner if we want to sleep well
Ramón de Cangas points out some foods that should not be eaten if we want to sleep well. Or, at least, to fall asleep without having to spend a lot of time counting sheep.
- Foods very rich in fat. They slow down gastric emptying and make digestion more difficult, making it difficult to fall asleep. This is the case of fatty cheeses, fatty sausages, high-fat processed foods such as lasagna, pizzas, hamburgers, etc.
- Foods rich in methylxanthines. In this group, represented mainly by caffeine, there are coffee, mate, tea, cocoa, cola drinks, energy drinks… They can make it difficult for some people to fall asleep.
- Alcohol. It causes unstable sleep, with more likelihood of awakenings and a decrease in the amount of deep and REM sleep.
- Late dinners. It interferes with circadian rhythms and alters falling asleep, since late digestion alters the normal hormonal cycle at night.
Foods rich in melatonin, tryptophan and others
- Walnuts. They are a good source of melatonin. “Some clinical trials suggest that its regular consumption increases blood levels of this hormone.”
- Fresh cheese, chicken, eggs, fish and dairy products in general. They are proteins with an interesting contribution of tryptophan.
- fatty fish (blue fish). Sardines, mackerel, salmon… are good sources of long-chain omega-3s.
- Beef, pork, nuts, whole grains…. They are sources of zinc, an element that has been associated with the quality and duration of sleep, although the evidence is not clear.
- Dark green leafy vegetables, apricots, almonds. They provide magnesium, which, like zinc, is an element that has been associated with the quality and duration of sleep, although the evidence is not clear.
Proper dietary practices to improve sleep
- Monitor dinner time so that it is, at least, a couple of hours before going to bed.
- Eat moderate portions, avoid going to bed feeling full.
- Include foods that are a good source of tryptophan, zinc, magnesium and omega 3. “They promote the production of serotonin, a hormone that, in turn, promotes relaxation and sleep,” says De Cangas. “The important thing is not to eat these foods at dinner, but to integrate them into your daily diet.”
The ALDI Council
Mobile phones and tablets emit blue light. Although we may not realize it, our brain interprets it as daylight and automatically puts itself in a state of wakefulness. Not looking at your phone right before you go to bed makes it easier for us to get sleepy much sooner.
ramón de cangas. Member of the Academic Body. Director of Nutrigroup by Ramón de Cangas, Oviedo, Gijón, Avilés, Madrid, Barcelona and Mexico. Doctor in Functional and Molecular Biology from the University of Oviedo, Dietitian-Nutritionist from the University of Navarra, Health Biologist from the University of Oviedo. PhD candidate in Food Science from the University of Navarra. www.ramondecangas.com. Facebook: Ramón de Cangas. Instagram @ramoncangas. Twitter: @DrRamonDeCangas
