Better Food Choices Can Result In Better Sleep

If you’ve dimmed all the lights, soundproofed your bedroom and put the cat out for the night, yet still can’t sleep, the food you eat may be the source of your insomnia.

A new study conducted by scientists at the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center suggests that a diet consisting of high-fat foods may interfere with your sleep patterns.

Researchers saw that lab animals that had been put on a fatty-food diet gained weight as expected and developed fragmented sleep patterns. These lab rats also tended to sleep more during the day.

The connection between sleep and the effects of a diet high in fat appears to be the neuro-chemical orexin, explained by lead author Catherine Kotz: “Studies in humans indicate a relationship between sleep quality and obesity. Our previous work in animals shows a link between good quality sleep, resistance to weight gain and increased sensitivity to orexin, a brain chemical important in stabilizing sleep and wake states. The current studies show that after high-fat diet-induced weight gain in rats, sleep quality is poor and orexin sensitivity is decreased. These findings suggest that poor sleep associated with weight gain due to a high-fat diet may be a consequence of reduced orexin sensitivity.”