Dr Michael Mosley has outlined a simple dietary change that could improve your sleep. Worryingly, around 71 percent of adults don’t get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
The health guru explained that good sleep can be measured with three things – how much you get, the quality of uninterrupted sleep and a consistent schedule. He said “if you optimise all three, you’re onto a winner”.
While factors like the use of screens before bed or drinking alcohol could hamper your sleep, your diet also plays a role. Writing in a new post on his thefast800 blog, Dr Mosley explained that if you’re struggling to get a good night’s rest “the answers may lie in your diet”.
Fortunately, “switching up your eating pattern might just fix your sleeping pattern”. The health guru recommended adopting intermittent fasting to improve your sleep.
What’s more, improving your sleep could offer benefits, including better concentration, a lower risk of dementia and heart disease, supported immune system, restored insulin sensitivity and more.
Dr Mosley penned: “To begin improving your sleep and reap those all-important health benefits, you may want to learn about the incredible connection between intermittent fasting and sleep. Fasting intermittently has been shown to improve all three pillars of good sleep, and the good news is that research suggests it won’t take long before noticing changes.
“A 2003 study measured participants’ sleep using a polysomnography before and after just seven days of fasting. The results indicated that fasting short-term can improve sleep quality by reducing restlessness, awakenings during the night and leg movement during sleep. This was in addition to daytime improvements in concentration and emotional balance.
“Similarly, a 2019 study by the Salk Institute found that a 10-hour eating window for overweight participants saw reductions in blood sugar levels, blood pressure, waist size, as well as longer and less interrupted sleep.”
The health guru explained that overeating during the day and too close to bedtime can compromise healthy sleep, creating a “vicious cycle” of poor sleep leading to poor dietary choices and so on.
However, going to bed on a “relatively” empty stomach could align your digestive system with your brain. This is where intermittent fasting could step in.
While there are many different approaches to this diet, Dr Mosley outlined the two most popular on The Fast 800 Programme. The first type is based on consuming your daily calorie intake within a time-restricted window. For example, the 12:12 method involves eating within 12 hours and fasting for 12 hours. There’s also the 14:10 or the 16:8 regimen, with the last one having the shortest eating window.
The second type is the 5:2 regimen, which requires participants to consume a restricted 800 calories on two days – known as fasting days – and consume a balanced diet on the other five days. Dr Mosley recommended a Mediterranean-style diet on non-fasting days for “maximum benefits”.
Apart from keeping your stomach relatively empty before bed, intermittent fasting has been also shown to raise the levels of the sleep-promoting hormone, melatonin, which could help you fall asleep quicker and stay asleep longer.