Sunday, July 26, 2026

What You Eat Before Bed Has Great Importance...

Night time is a very tempting time to eat. We often get little cravings and feel like having a little snack or a small meal between dinner and brushing out teeth. In essence, there is nothing wrong with eating something small before going to bed, but in doing so, it pays to know what we should and what we shouldn't eat to get a good night's sleep. 

Foods that help you sleep: 

Cherries 

 Cherries naturally contain the chemical melatonin, which is responsible for configuring our 'internal clock'. A study has found that adults who suffer from insomnia and drank cherry juice before bed reported a marked improvement in the quality and length of their sleep.

Jasmine Rice  

Although rice has a high glycemic value, it is digested by the body at a slow rate, and slowly releases glucose into the bloodstream. This prevents a sugar spike that can destroy your sleep. Researchers have found that eating rice a few hours before going to bed lowered the amount of time it takes to fall asleep by half. 

Enriched Cereals 

As a rule, carbs are a pretty good food option before going to sleep, but a box of cookies isn't recommended. Instead, try a bowl of cereal with complex carbohydrates. If you make a habit of eating cereal with milk, you're twice as likely to get to sleep, because milk is also considered to promote quality sleep. Quinoa, buckwheat, and barley are also recommended carbs to eat before bed. 

Bananas 

Bananas are rich in magnesium and potassium, minerals known to be muscle relaxants. They are also a good source of carbs, which also promote a better quality of sleep. Eating a banana before bed will also help you reap other healthy advantages, such as helping your heart and blood vessels, as well as your cognitive functioning.

Turkey 

Turkey meat contains an essential amino acid called tryptophan, which is one of the most powerful materials your body uses to get you to sleep. That's why you always feel like napping after eating a good amount of turkey. 

Sweet Potato 

Similar to banana, sweet potato also contains carbs combined with potassium that relaxes your muscles. Sweet potatoes also contain carotenoids and powerful antioxidants that promote general health. 

Valerian Root Tea 

The root of the valerian plant has been proven, by several studies, to promote high-quality sleep, reducing the length of time it takes to fall asleep. You can drink the mixture with chamomile, a plant known to relax the body as well. 

Important: Drink chamomile or valerian root tea, without caffeine.

Foods you should avoid before sleep: 

Hamburger  

The large amount of fat found in hamburgers is a known 'sleep killer'. The fat encourages the stomach to pump more acid out, which can cause heartburn. Of course, the heartburn is what most likely gets in the way of falling asleep. Furthermore, the stomach needs to work extra hours to digest this heavy meal, which will also harm the quality of your sleep. 

Alcohol 

Although it may put us to sleep faster, all types of alcohol go through a fast metabolic process in our digestive system, causing us to wake up several times during the night, even if we don't remember it the next day. A study has found that women who drank alcohol before going to sleep were up 15 minutes more (in little mini-breaks) in the middle of the night, as well as sleeping 20 minutes less than average. That may not sound like a lot, but the study found that the quality of the sleep is damaged. In addition, alcohol may result in snoring, causing disruptions in your sleep as well as your spouse's.

Coffee  

I bet you knew this one already. Coffee is meant to wake us up in the morning. It doesn't actually make us more alert, it works as an antagonist to sleep hormones. Of course, it is one of the worst things you can put in your body in the hours before you go to bed. Furthermore, people have radically different reactions to caffeine, and so the length of time you should keep between drinking coffee and going to sleep may change from person to person.

Chocolate 

Other than the vast amounts of sugar, causing your blood sugar levels to spike, chocolate also contains caffeine and is considered to be a food that keeps you awake. Chocolate also contains a substance called theobromine, which can elevate the heart rate and interfere with our sleep. 

Spice is not nice 

Any spicy food will detract from the quality of our sleep. A recent Australian study found that men who consumed Tabasco sauce or mustard before bed had trouble falling asleep. They also reported experiencing a low quality of sleep. Hot food can also cause heartburn, which, as previously explained, is terrible for a good night's sleep.


This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for food, medicines, exercises and so on.   


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posted by G S Iyer at 10:29 AM 0 comments

What Is Deep Sleep and How Much of It Do You Need?

Sleep is fascinating, it’s complicated and absolutely essential, all at once. When you think of it, every one of us spends almost a third of their lifetime snoozing away. We do until we don’t, that is, as more and more people don’t actually sleep enough, be it by their own will or because they physically can’t fall asleep at night. We’ve discussed the topic of how much sleep you need and sleep deprivation, as well as the best sleep positions, but the topic we’d like to focus your attention to today is sleep cycles, and deep sleep in particular, because it turns out that it’s not enough to sleep a specific amount of time each night, but it’s also important to get enough deep sleep to wake up awake and refreshed.

The 4 stages of sleep

You have probably encountered the term “sleep cycle” before. It refers to a gradual, stage-by-stage cycle of sleep variations we go through several times while we sleep at night. The sleep cycle consists of 5 main stages, each essential and special in its own right. The image below illustrates the sleep cycle and the stages of sleep.

deep sleep The 4 Stages of Sleep

Stage 1. Drowsiness 

This is the short transitional stage between being awake and falling asleep. During this stage, your muscles start relaxing, your breathing and heartbeat slow down and you’re getting ready for sleep. Muscle contractions and slow eye movements are typical for this stage. 

Stage 2. Light Sleep 

As was the case with the previous stage, during light sleep you’re still partly awake and quite easy to wake. Your body further relaxes and your brain waves slow down and eye movements typically stop. This stage can last 20 minutes or more, with research showing that this is the stage we spend the most time while we sleep. 

Stages 3 and 4. Moderate and Deep Sleep  

During these stages, people experience the deepest sleep, which is characterized by the slowest heart rate, brain waves, and breathing. During this crucial stage, a person fully relaxes and it’s very difficult to wake them up. Deep sleep is essential for the formation of new memories and the excretion of important hormones in the brain. This is the stage that allows your brain to relax and replenish itself after a long day of thinking and collecting information. 

Stage 5. REM Sleep 

The final stage of the sleep cycle is the so-called REM sleep, named after the characteristic rapid eye movements observed during this stage. During this stage, brain activity increases to its wakeful norm and we start dreaming. Simultaneously, our bodies become temporarily paralyzed to prevent us from acting out whatever we’re doing in our dreams.

How much sleep do we need?

 As you may have guessed, deep sleep is necessary for us to feel rested and refreshed in the morning, as this is the stage in our sleep cycle during which we truly relax. Apart from that, deep sleep is essential for us to make new brain connections - new memories, learning, etc. For most adults, sleeping 7-9 hours a day will usually allow your body to experience enough time spent in deep sleep.

The first few rounds of deep sleep will typically last a bit longer than the further ones, and if you got too little deep sleep one day, your body will typically be able to make up for the lost time the next day. However, chronic lack of deep sleep can be more dangerous and make your brain function worse and slower, making it difficult for you to remember old information or memorize new things, as well as a feeling of fatigue. 

If you’re afraid this is happening to you, you might want to look at these 10 tips for better sleep, as well as this method to get more deep sleep. Apart from that, following these tips might also improve the quantity of deep sleep: 

Stop looking at your phone right before sleep. 

Try drinking relaxing herbal teas before bed. 

Sleep in a cool room. 

Use an eye mask. 

Reduce stress in your everyday life. 

Eat a light evening meal.


This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for food, medicines, exercises and so on.   


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posted by G S Iyer at 10:18 AM 0 comments