Carbs before bed, good or bad?

A common question I get about nutrition is, “Will carbs before bed make me fat?”

As always, it highly depends on the individual, but I will give you some guidance into making the best decision for you. First, we have to know a little about the energy releasing hormone cortisol. Yes, I meant that: Energy releasing. When you think of cortisol, you think of “stress hormone.” But really what cortisol is doing is mobilizing fuel for energy. In the case of cortisol, a “healthy” person should have higher levels of cortisol when they are waking, and they should continue to drop throughout the day until they are low in the evening.

This should be the case if you need to mobilize energy in day hours and need less energy in the evening, and need to be able to rest and digest (unless you are a shift worker and this might be different).

We can signal the release of cortisol with food (or lack of food. This is actually how you feel the affects of fasting). In the morning, we will get a spike in cortisol which will get us up and moving. As we get food into our body, the cortisol will start to drop progressively throughout the day. The macronutrient that has the most affect on the release of cortisol is carbohydrates. Knowing this, we can utilize carbohydrates in the evening lower cortisol levels so we can get better sleep. But not all carbohydrates are created equal. A starch rich sweet potato is going to have a very different digestion time and affect on blood sugar than a donut. The sweet potatoes complex structure of carbs will take a while to break down and slowly release into your blood as you sleep. The donut on the other hand, is made up of more simple sugars that enter the blood stream much more quickly and are absorbed much more quickly.

If you lay of carbs completely before bed, your cortisol will start to rise during sleep and you will be left staring at the ceiling because your energy mobilizing hormone just kicked on in the middle of the night.

My take? If you want to keep cortisol levels under control as you sleep, eat 1-2 cups of starchy carbohydrates (rice, potato, yams, yucca, quinoa) 2-3 hours before bed.

Remember, this is a complex issue, and their are many factors that can contribute to weight gain and sleeplessness. However, I would give it a try for a few weeks and see if adding some starchy carbs to dinner improves your sleep. What do you have to lose other than those dark circles below your eyes?

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Better Sleep for Aging Athletes

As I work with a professional or aging athlete, it becomes clear very early on in the intake process that better sleep needs to be prioritized.  Weight loss, muscle gains, mood, and libido can all be improved with better sleep.  Getting to sleep is extremely hard for some people.  The biggest reason I see that clients are having trouble falling asleep is they are trying to will themselves to sleep.  Instead, you have to create the environment for sleep, and allow sleep to occur.  Think about sleep as a person you are attracted to.  You can’t make them like you.  You have to be a person that is likeable.  It’s time for you to be a person that sleep is going to be attracted to! Here are 3 tips that you should start doing NOW to improve your sleep.

• Eat 2+ Hours Prior to Bedtime: This one varies from person to person, but for most people, they eat entirely too close to bedtime.  The body doesn’t know whether to sleep or digest food, so you are left staring at the ceiling until 12am.  Shoot for your final meal 2-3 hours before bedtime and that’s it! No snacking or dessert.  Get that in before your feeding window closes.   

• Set a Bedtime: There is a reason why when you were a kid, your parents set a bedtime for you.  When you heard your parents say, “It’s bedtime,” you had a physiological response that triggered sleep.  If you have a bedtime now, your body will respond the same way.  “It’s 10pm.  Time to pack it in. I don’t need to watch a 17th episode of this Netflix series on serial killers,” is what you’ll start to say.  The key here is to be consistent.  11:30pm one night and 8pm the next night just won’t cut it.  To set your circadian rhythm (biological clock), it needs to be consistent.  Weekends are off limits.  I know, I know, your weekends are the time you LOVE to stay up late.  I get it.  But you are throwing a monkey wrench into your sleep schedule ~20% of the time.  If you want to stop being frustrated about sleep, DVR your favorite show and watch it the next morning.

• Mediate: Yes that’s right meditate.  Find a quiet comfortable spot in your house, set a timer for 15 minutes, and sit there and focus on the silence and space around you.  There are tons of apps that can help guide you in meditation, choose one and stick to it.  I have found that meditation allows me to shut off external stimuli before going to bed that can cause arousal.  I tend to watch TV, read emails, and scroll through social media.  If I sit and meditate, my mind is able to shift gears and be comfortable with silence.  I am already nodding off by the end and am eager to get under the covers.  Start meditating before bedtime, and you will find it easier to fall asleep.

Creating an environment for sleep is simple.  Execution can sometimes be challenging.  Research has shown that having someone hold you accountable increases the chances of keeping your new habit. The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) did a study on accountability and found that you have a 65% of completing a goal if you commit to someone.  Boost your chances of sleep success and book a free assessment with me today.  Better sleep is within reach, let’s work together!