The Scary Truth About How Sugar Ruins Your Sleep
#SugarBalancedLiving
How does sugar affect your sleep; the scary truth! Many of us associate sugar with the sleepiness that comes after the typical energy crash, but did you know that sugar actually reduces your ability to get a good quality night's sleep, and ruins your sleep cycle? Let’s get to the bottom of why junk food and sugar cause negative effects on our sleep and discover the most significant effects that sugar has on sleep and what we can do to create a fantastic good night's sleep.
Who doesn’t love to kick off the day with a bowl of cold cereal, graze on sweet snacks while at work, and end the day with an after-dinner dessert? For many, that sounds like a normal way to eat during the day. But could your tossing and turning during the night be caused by your daytime scrumptious desserts?
It's no secret; most health experts and nutrition influencers all agree that a diet full of added sugars and processed foods has been long associated with weight gain and can affect our health in many different ways, but did you know the subtle way it could be directly impacting you every night?
Yes, another one of sugar’s dirty little cons is the way it affects the quality of your sleep.
After hearing from so many of my clients that their sleep has improved and that they feel far more refreshed in the morning since they started reducing the sugar in their diet and started eating a clean balanced diet. One of the most underrated benefits of eating well and reducing sugar and junk food in your diet is a big boost in sleep health.
I've felt this myself - after I started my healthy balanced reduced sugar diet I started finding it easier to fall asleep, I would wake less often, I felt more comfortable falling asleep and I found myself better rested and more energized in the morning - and many of my clients have reported the same benefit.
In fact, researchers have found that eating a diet that is high in sugar and processed carbohydrates can disrupt your sleep. Studies have shown that more sugar that you consume throughout the waking day, the more often you are to wake up during the night.
Now you might be saying, “But I don't really wake up a dozen times during the night...”. Well, even if you do not find yourself waking up a lot in the night, the sugar flowing through your system can drag you out of a deep slumber, and leave you light sleeping most of the night, leading you to feel tired and exhausted the next day. Quality sleep actually counts.
Basically, if you find that you keep waking up groggy instead of energized quite often, there's a chance that your sweet tooth and love of junk food could be the problem.
Now, even if you don't have a sweet and don’t actually eat a lot of candy or sweets. Let me ask you this... have you ever intentionally weaned yourself off hidden and processed sugar?
While many people think they may not be eating much sugar, chances are you’re eating a lot more than you realize. Americans consume a startling amount of sugar every day - in fact, in a study conducted by University of North via a detailed survey of the packaged foods and drinks that are purchased in American grocery stores, it was found that 60 percent of them include some form of added sugar.
The average American consumes almost 152 pounds of sugar in one year.
And the worst part is, you may be in this statistic without even being conscious of it - because it is way too easy to accidentally pick up foods that are made of refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, or refined carbohydrates which turn into sugar in the body.
Sugar is everywhere, even if you have a healthier diet.
Think: fast food, breads, pasta, soda, sauces, dressings, coffee drinks, and cereals, they may taste good, but the amount of sugar and the way they’re processed in our body is wrecking our health and could be behind your tiredness.
SLEEP is free - and we need that consistent, restorative, uninterrupted, eight-hours-a-night kind of sleep... so if high sugar intake correlates with frequent night-time waking and less restorative sleep, we can't let it destroy our circadian rhythm and sleep patterns.
So let’s get to the bottom of why junk food and sugar cause negative effects on our sleep and discover the most significant effects that sugar has on sleep and what we can do to create a fantastic good night's sleep.
How Does Sugar Affect Your Sleep?
Research conducted at Columbia University revealed that people who ate a high sugar diet throughout the day reported more arousals during the night without actually being awakened than those who ate less sugary and junky food. Those in this high sugar diet group also reported feeling more chronically wiped out, due to the lighter and less restorative sleep.
There is evidence that connects a disrupted sleep to consuming more sugar in a 2016 study - there two groups of both healthy volunteers. One group was given a controlled diet that limited added sugars and fats, and emphasized fiber.
The other group was allowed to eat whatever they wanted. The researchers found that the second group consumed significantly more sugar and fat—and this diet heavily impacted the quality of their nightly rest, because the volunteers who consumed the higher sugar diets spent less time in deep, slow-wave sleep. The deep, slow-wave sleep stage is essential for the body’s physical restoration, healing, and maintaining a healthy metabolism and immune function—both of which are compromised in the first place when too much sugar is consumed.
When you consume sugar, it increases inflammation within the body, which actually has a direct connection to the quality of sleep.
Evidence suggests that sleep and inflammation are actually regulated by the exact same biorhythms in our body, meaning one impacts the other.
To make matters worse inflammation, in general, can create or increase pain, aches, stiffness, or discomfort throughout the body that makes it increasingly difficult to fall asleep, or stay asleep.
That's not all - consuming high sugar content throughout the day can also lead to a crash in energy, and because eating too much sugar reduces the activity of orexin cells which are responsible for feelings of alertness, you're left feeling drowsy. This will make you more likely to nap when you don't physically need one, which in turn will lead to a restless night.
Sugar and insomnia create a vicious cycle. Not only do we see now that sugar leads to poor quality of sleep... but we tend to eat and drink more junky and sugary foods when we're overtired.
A lack of sleep has been linked to an increase in the hunger hormone ghrelin and our stress hormone cortisol, which are both responsible in part for increasing our desire to eat unhealthy foods.
This adversely affects sleep, and your disrupted sleep will, in turn, produce an even greater craving for sugar the next day and then lack of sleep again. The vicious circle continues.
Furthermore, the consumption of sugar and junk food uses up a lot of magnesium which is an important mineral needed for sleep.
To matters even worse for your sleep, quite a few sugary treats also contain caffeine, which is not ideal for healthy sleep, especially if you consume it in the evenings.
It's now very clear to see that the more you rely on sugar during the day, the more likely you are to create toxic sleep patterns at night.
Scientific evidence even shows the statistics proving that those with the highest intake of sugar are 16% more likely to develop insomnia, compared to those with the lowest intake, and research showed that short sleepers had a 21% higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.
While this has shockingly scary to read... it's now clear to see that we must be more careful of what we eat and drink daily to protect our circadian rhythm and avoid chronic sleep problems. Because sugar intake is closely tied to sleep, and the statistics don't lie, especially when we also include the fact that not only does the consumption of sugar and junk food cause sleep deprivation on its own but also the consistent intake of junk and sugary foods leads to conditions that cause a plethora of sleep struggles.
Excessive intake of processed and sugary foods can lead to unhealthy weight gain, chronic stress, anxiety, and depression, which are just a few issues that can lead to chronic sleep conditions.
Sugar-rich and high carb (esp. refined) foods mess with the neurotransmitters that help keep our moods stable. Consuming sugar will stimulate the release of the mood-boosting neurotransmitter serotonin, a major neurotransmitter known as the “happiness molecule.”
We eat sugar, and we get a mood boost. What could possibly be wrong with that?
It’s not that simple. Eating excess sugar releases way more serotonin than we need. When these serotonin pathways continue to be activated, our limited store of serotonin will eventually become depleted. After usual abuse, due to decreased levels of serotonin, depression actually starts to form, along with constant blood sugar crash and exhaustion.
In the short term, the boost from sugar is short-lived, as it only lasts for an hour or two before you’re hit with a serotonin crash, leaving you exerted and groggy. This is one of the reasons why research showed that those consuming the highest amount of sugar were 23% more likely to develop depression.
And those who suffer from depression have shown a 97% report of sleep disturbances.
Anxiety is another big one...
The correlation between sugar, anxiety, and sleep.
You eat sugar to relax when you are feeling anxious right?! Well, the blood sugar rollercoaster caused by junk food and sugar can make you feel irritable, shaky, and tense — all of these side effects that can worsen your anxiety. And anxiety is one of the leading causes of being unable to fall asleep.
Lastly, as you probably already know, an excessive intake of processed food and sugar is a leading factor in weight gain. However, you may not know that weight and sleep quality have a close connection. Research has shown that people who are obese are 50% more likely to have insomnia and 67% more likely to report poor sleep.
How to Eat Better to Improve Your Sleep
Basically, the less you consume sugar and processed foods and drinks, the more you're able to achieve healthy sleep patterns at night. The average adult needs at least seven hours of sleep a night; any less and you'll be looking to short-term energy boosts from sugary foods, and that combination of bad diet and poor sleep will damage your health.
So, if you want to improve the quality of your rest or struggle with getting a good night’s sleep—what should be the big takeaway that'll result in big improvements to your sleep?
Cut down on sugar and refined carbs... and follow a balanced healthy diet to increase energy levels during the day and help you sleep better at night.
Start your day with plenty of protein, go low-sugar, swap refined carbohydrates for whole grains, eat a high-fiber diet that focuses on whole, unprocessed foods to help keep your gut healthy to counteract fluctuating blood-sugar levels. The less you rely on sugar to prop you up through the day, the healthier sleep patterns you'll have.
And a good rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t eat in the two hours before you go to bed.
Some very sleep-beneficial vitamins and nutrients are vitamin D, vitamin C, calcium, and selenium. Foods like nuts, grains, dairy products, seafood, meat, fruits, and vegetables are a good source of these vitamins and nutrients.
Supplements can plug dietary gaps, but nutrients from fresh wholesome foods make for the best source of nutrients necessary for good health.
If you are craving a late-night snack and feel hungry then certain light sleep-inducing snacks promote sleep by boosting your level of the sleep hormone melatonin.
The best sugar-free foods for better sleep
These sleep-inducing snack including snacks include fruit or yogurt. Cherries, grapes, strawberries, kiwifruit, nuts, and oats all have high melatonin content. Non-caffeinated herbal teas, especially ones with chamomile or lavender, are another nice way to calm the mind and induce sleep.
Interesting in creating a restorative wind-down routine and the healthiest sleep possible?!
For more powerful backup strategies to help you get to sleep hop on over to my post 12 Simple Tips for Better Sleep, which shares the really helpful "4-7-8" Breathing Method as well.
The Bottom Line
Physical activity, an evening wind-down routine, and most importantly a healthy balanced diet low in sugar and junk food can produce wonderful rejuvenating sleep, and the vicious circle can turn virtuous.
The alarming truth is that sugar and processed foods have been ruining your sleep for the longest amount of time and now it's time to really make a change. However, every time you make a healthier choice it'll bring you closer to a better night's sleep and help you wake up feeling energized.
It may be a habit to reach for a sweet treat to boost your energy but this could be leading to your disturbed night. Although we know sugar is bad... it can seem impossible to break the habit of dunking it in our coffee or reaching for a cookie. So, how do you kick your sugar habit and finally achieve healthy sleep patterns at night?
I know it can be hard going wholesome and removing processed and synthetic packaged foods from your diet, especially when they cause you to endless crave them. So, if your weight has crept up on you and/or you’re tired of feeling STUCK in trying to conquer negative food habits without food fads, obsessive dieting, deprivation, or the need for willpower, I have some extra support for you, that’ll help you in cutting down on processed foods and junk foods addictive pull!
And since I’m totally here to help you the best I can… for even more effective and actionable support, I’ve put together some seriously useful and easy hacks on cutting back sugar and junk foods for good.
Check out my FREE ‘Ultimate Guide to Crushing Your Sugar Cravings’ Downloadable Guide.
Get started on effortlessly breaking your sugar reliance/addiction for good with help + support. AND, most importantly, while maintaining a healthy balance between your mind and your body - because low-sugar living shouldn’t feel like deprivation.