Fact or myth?
What you eat before bed affects your sleep quality.
FACT: There have been many studies (and many are taking place), that assess the quality of sleep based off of one’s individual eating habits throughout the day. One particular study has seen the impact of high calorie foods and high fat foods having differing effects of sleep quality. Fruits such as kiwifruits and cherries consumed within an hour before sleep showed positive results, and enhanced sleep quality. This particularly helped those with insomnia-like issues. Some conclusions have decided that fatty fish and milk can also benefit sleep quality. However, there are so many different factors like age and health issues (like diabetes) that come into play. There are no specific guidelines that have arisen from these studies, but, we can confirm that eating more whole foods like vegetables, fruits and whole grains can evidently improve one’s overall sleep quality.
Age determines the amount of sleep you require.
MYTH: The amount of sleep that you need is based on your own personal circumstances. Yes, there are guidelines on suggested amounts of time needed to ‘properly’ function, but this is really up to you! The suggested guidelines are between seven and nine hours per night for 18 year-olds and up. Younger children and teens are suggested to have up to 15 hours per night. With such a large range of suggestions, there is really no amount of specific time needed for anyone. Factors that may contribute to how much sleep you may need include work load, diet and day-time naps. The moral of the story, sleep as much as it takes for your body to feel rested and ready to go.
Sources
https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/7/5/938/4616727?login=true#110042101
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627317300880
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