You probably already know fiber’s friendly on your waistline.
(If not, saunter on over to my other site and check for some sick midsection tips…)
But did you know it can boost your snooze quality, too?
That’s right. There’s a long list of vitamins and assorted micronutrients we require to rest well at night. And there are plenty of supplements, too. Some of the stuff you might already know about comprise calcium, magnesium (in its citrate form, preferably), melatonin, zinc, and supplemental helpers like valerian root. If those all sound totally foreign to you, settle into that search bar and peruse all the drivel I’ve scribbled out on those topics before you head to the store to purchase a few.
Indeed, sometimes we’re low on certain vitamins or nutrients. And, while I thought I’d officially been knowledgeable about them all, I stand corrected. Because there’s one I definitely missed: fiber. The same stuff that fills you up, slows the release of sugar into your blood (so it doesn’t spike horribly), and gives you a smooth movement in the loo later… also helps improve your snooze time. At least that’s what a randomized control trial study on the topic, straight outta Columbia University, showed: those who ate a low fiber diet had later onset of sleep and poorer restorative sleep quality. Granted, the study also had that group on a high saturated fat and sugar diet. However, that’s pretty consistent with the standard American diet; if you’re low on fiber, you’re probably consuming foods that’re highly processed and infused with high fructose corn syrup and other forms of processed sugar.
And why’s fiber such a soporific? None of the articles referencing this (nor the research article itself) really touch on this. But I’m the kinda person where I’ve always gotta know the “why” behind what I’m doing. And, when it comes to why fiber helps you rest, it’s not that difficult to figure out. Basically, the relationship between blood sugar and slumber time is cyclical. That’s just a fact. Too little sleep, and your sugar spikes. To high (or low, for that matter) of blood sugar, and your shut eye suffers. We require a just right balance. Because fiber helps regulate that blood sugar release into your system, it’s doing exactly that. On top of making us feel sufficiently satiated and making our excretory exodus exemplary, it also can make sure our sugar levels remain at those Goldilocks conditions, so we can ride the delta waves on our doze surf board.
(Nocturnal ponytail induced traction alopecia optional…)
So, if you’re sleeping rough, up your roughage, chuck your sugar, and cease the saturated fats!