Proper nutrition for better sleep

We know that sleep is one of the most important allies of physical and mental health.

Sleeping well when you are young helps you age well and, even when your hair is now white, protecting the quality of your sleep means preserving the well-being of your body and mind.

What can we do to improve the quality of our sleep?
Let's start with a healthy diet!

Diet and nutrition can affect the quality of sleep, and certain foods can make it easier or harder to get the rest each of us needs.
Identifying the connection between sleep and nutrition helps you optimize both so you can eat smarter, sleep better, and live a healthier life.

A correct diet requires a healthy balance of macronutrients (i.e. carbohydrates, proteins and lipids) and an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals and is therefore characterised by a daily consumption of fruit, vegetables and cereals, mainly whole grains, a moderate intake of dairy products, fish, legumes and eggs and limited use of red and preserved meats.

So what to put on the table for dinner?

To promote a restful and quality rest, dinner must be nutritious, but light, so as to satiate us without weighing us down.

The ideal is to compose a complete meal, consisting of a source of carbohydrates, preferably whole grains, and a source of protein, favoring less fatty foods. We must not forget the source of fiber, provided by a good portion of vegetables, useful in reducing night awakenings.

Acidic and spicy foods or very salty foods are enemies of a restful and quality sleep. If we want to nibble on something while waiting for dinner, instead of cutting a piece of Grana, a slice of salami or opening a packet of crisps, we can put a colorful crudités of vegetables on the table: in addition to ensuring a sufficient intake of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, it satiates and reduces the glycemic impact of the entire meal.

We already knew that coffee after dinner is not helpful if we want to improve the quality of our sleep, but how widespread is the belief that a glass of wine after dinner helps us sleep better?
In reality, it is true that drinking alcohol late at night tends to reduce the time needed to fall asleep, but it also worsens the quality of sleep, reducing the deep phase, which is the one that most affects physical recovery. So every now and then we can allow ourselves a glass of wine with dinner, but without overdoing it, so as not to alter the quality of sleep.

But what matters is not only what or how much we eat: the timing of dinner is also important. Eating late at night or just before going to sleep, in fact, increases the probability of waking up during the night, worsens the quality of rest and also risks making you lose sleep. Let's try to eat dinner 2-3 hours before going to bed and, if possible, always at the same times to correctly synchronize our body's biological clock.

With the arrival of the cold season, many of us tend to have an increased desire for sweets after dinner when we sit on the sofa to watch television or read a book.

Ending dinner with a piece of fruit to have a sweet taste in your mouth, brushing your teeth after finishing the meal and before going to the sofa, drinking a herbal tea as an evening treat, or trying to distract ourselves by putting the stimulus on hold, for example by going out for a walk or making a phone call to a loved one, are all strategies that could help to pass the right amount of time between dinner and sleep, without having to look for something else to nibble on!

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