This blog was written by Chelsea, our on-staff Holistic Nutritionist! Book sessions with Chelsea over on our registration site at https://reconline.yorkulions.ca/
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Let’s kick this off by saying that I don’t know anyone who doesn’t appreciate and relish a good night’s sleep. Now, I’m also a mum of two under the age of 3, so I may be biased, but sleep really is just the best (especially when you’re dealing with quality over quantity!).
I’m sure we’re all aware that sleep is important for overall health and well-being; I’m sure you can notice how different you feel after an amazing night of sleep, compared to a not-so-great one.
But did you also know the quality of sleep can impact what your body craves, desires, and feels satisfied by when it comes to food?
Let’s dig into what happens with the way we engage with food when our sleep is compromised, as well as what you can do to support yourself, and your body’s natural ability to self-regulate around food.
1. It Makes You Crave Comfort Food
Sleep loss will put your stress response (also known as “fight or flight”) into overdrive.
Chronic stress also happens to be one of the top triggers of insomnia, so you can see how this can quickly become a vicious cycle. What is the natural response when we are in a place of stress or discomfort? Comfort. Not to mention, comfort through food.
Seeking comfort through food is natural and normal but what you want to be aware of is when you’re using comfort food as a crutch to get through something else (such as lack of sleep).
What To Do? Instead of beating yourself up for turning to comfort food, consider finding ways to manage your stress. Some great go-to options are breathwork, meditation, journaling, and even relaxing movements like yoga. Slowing down with intentional, deep breathing, mindful movement and a change in focus can shift you from a state of stress to relaxation.
2. It Increases Your Food Cravings
Your blood glucose has a cyclical relationship with the quality of sleep you achieve. If you’re not getting enough sleep, your body has a difficult time regulating your blood glucose levels.
Why does this matter? Many food cravings and desires stem from imbalanced blood sugar, easily leading to what’s commonly referred to as “the glucose rollercoaster”: a repetitive cycle of blood sugar dips and spikes.
Intuitively, when our glucose levels dip lower than ideal, the body will crave foods that are carbohydrate or sugar-rich because they can be broken down easily to help raise blood sugar levels, and thus, energy levels. Unfortunately, blood sugar that is too high or too low can be detrimental to the quality of sleep you get the following night.
What to do? Aim for 8 hours of quality sleep and focus on getting a balanced variety of macronutrients (protein, fat, fibre, carbohydrates) through your meals and snacks to avoid hopping on the glucose rollercoaster, especially before bed.
3. You Never Feel Satisfied After Eating
Sleep deprivation or loss impacts the appetite-regulating hormones, ghrelin, and leptin. Ghrelin triggers a strong sensation of hunger, while Leptin signals the feeling of being satisfied and full.
With too little sleep, studies found increased levels of ghrelin and decreased concentrations of leptin. What does this mean? It means after nights of poor sleep, you will naturally crave more but will have a harder time feeling satisfied, no matter what you eat.
Occasional bouts of poor sleep inevitably happen to us all. Fortunately, there are many factors that contribute to great sleep that can be easily implemented.
What to do? Check-in with yourself. What does your body need at this moment? Honour your body’s needs in all ways: eat intuitively and be intentional about getting quality sleep.
4. It Interferes with The Ability to Eat Intuitively
Living in a state of chronic stress triggers the release of excess cortisol, popularly known as your stress hormone.
FUN FACT: IF YOU OFTEN WAKE UP BETWEEN 1 AM & 3 AM EVERY NIGHT, YOU CAN THANK THE HORMONE, CORTISOL, FOR THAT!
An excess amount of circulating cortisol has a negative effect on the gut microbiome, promoting “bad bacteria” to take over, leaving you with a compromised ability to properly break down and absorb the foods and nutrients you are consuming. You can imagine then, how difficult it will be to navigate intuitive eating and focus on foods that make you feel good when you’re experiencing the digestive drama and negative symptoms associated with poor gut health.
What to do? Show your gut some love by including prebiotic and probiotic foods (like kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi, and tempeh), invest in a high-quality probiotic, practice stress release, and of course, prioritize catching your zZz’s!
5. It Interferes with Food Decisions and Falsely Makes Certain Foods More Desirable
In a study that tested how the brain reacts to food following a stretch of shortened sleep, the part of our brain responsible for making sound judgments and decision-making (the pre-frontal cortex) had quieted its activity due to inadequate sleep. Instead, the more biological, primal structures of the brain that drive survival motivation and desire were heightened.
Certain foods became far more desirable for the participants who experienced sleep deprivation, compared to those who got a full 8.5-hour sleep.
Your body interprets sleep loss as a threat to your survival. Your body is doing this as an act of love to literally keep you alive, preparing calorically for perceived difficult times ahead.
What to do? Practice habits that support high-quality sleep (sleeping with blackout blinds, an eye mask, avoiding technology before bed) and prioritize it like you would other non-negotiable activities in your daily life.
Learning to listen to your body doesn’t just happen overnight, especially if you’ve spent years ignoring what your body is telling you! Paying attention to hunger and fullness cues, as well as asking yourself, “why do I want this?”, “how am I feeling?”, “Am I stressed out?”, “do I need to XYZ – move my body? Eat something? Drink something? Get some sleep?”
Perhaps when you start paying attention to and honouring your body’s wants and needs, you’ll find that a little more (or just better quality) time between the sheets is exactly what you didn’t know you needed!
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