Sleep is a fundamental human need, but according to Sleep on It Canada, more than half of Canadians report that they cut back on sleep when they need extra time to accomplish more during the day. One-third of Canadians sleep fewer hours per night than the recommended number. When you consider all the critical work that is being conducted by sleep deprived Canadians, it is a very serious issue.
The 2021 study published in the Journal of American Medical Association found that as little as a 1% reduction in deep sleep each year for people over sixty, equals a 27% increased risk of developing dementia.
The immediate effects of lack of sleep are you feel lousy and spend most of the day in search of caffeine or sugar to keep you going, but it is the longer term effects on the brain that are the most significant. Aside from enabling your body to repair itself, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke also noted that recent findings suggest that sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in your brain that build up while you are awake. So why is it so hard for us to sleep.
It is no wonder, that given our current digital environment, combined with an overall increase in post-COVID mental stress, that we have problems sleeping. Sleep deprivation is no longer a sign associated with aging. In the 2021 Journal of Sleep Medicine found that a prevalence of sleep problems in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic were alarming and many children continue to experience sleep deficit.
Although armed with all this information, Canadians still continue to struggle to sleep. The crisis in our health care system, combined with post-COVID stress and an aging society does not bode well for sleepless Canadians. As a nutritionist, I see this every day with my clients who struggle not just with food related health challenges, but also with sleep issues. What is the solution, they ask. The good news is that possible solutions exist through our daily choices of not just what to eat, but how we eat and when we eat to help improve our sleep.
While our grocery dollars do not go as far as they once did, Canadians can make a positive difference in their sleep by looking at what they are eating. According to the Sleep Foundation, there are some key foods that can help you get a better night’s sleep: kiwifruit, tart cherries, fatty fish, milk and nuts. What makes these foods sleep positive is that they all have a unique combination of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that support the brain’s functions to promote sleep. On the flip side, there are an equal number of foods and drinks that disrupt sleep, such as, caffeine, alcohol, refined sugar, processed and fatty foods. By introducing and removing certain foods can help your brain to reset its sleep cycle.
Thinking about how we eat also plays a role. Many of us inhale our food at our desks or over the sink, thinking we are saving time but in reality we are doing is decreasing our sleep. In addition to diet change, try adopting one lifestyle change, like going for a walk or creating a consistent bedtime routine, will help to put you to sleep.
Let us be inspired by Hippocrates (460BC-370BC) who wrote: Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” and lets make food choices that not just nourish our mind and body but help us to sleep.
Kelly Beaton, R.H.N.
Registered Holistic Nutritionist and founder of eatwellbewell, a nutrition consultancy specializing in aging brain health.
@kellyeatswellbewell