How sugary foods and blood sugar levels affect your sleep

Eating sugar rich foods boosts blood sugar, and will give you a boost of energy. This is something to keep in mind if you are tempted to snack before bedtime because when your brain realises that your body is full of sugar, your pancreas will release large amounts of insulin to transfer the sugar from your blood to your energy storing cells. Once blood sugar is lowered you will start to feel sleepy, but before you start to get too excited about this, think again. Once your blood sugar drops to to a low point you body sends signals triggering a stress response that in turn stimulates the release of the hormones cortisol and adrenaline which in turn are the ones responsible for keeping you awake at night.

So what can you do to avoid this? Well keeping your blood sugar balanced throughout the day will help ensure that your sleep better at night. So how do you do this you may ask? Well it’s quite simple really. Just eat healthy and smaller portions frequently throughout the day to avoid dips and spikes in blood sugar levels. Cut back on anything that contains sugar, eat more complex carbohydrates, healthy fats and protein , and my biggest tip of all is to just drink water.

Not only will you feel more rested your body will love you for it because you won’t develop insulin resistance and you will keep your body in great shape.