Have you ever had that feeling of wanting to take on the world by being productive and energetic with your work? If you have then you will probably recognize this routine….. you wake up bright and early, brush your teeth, have your breakfast, drive to work, arrive and have the most productive 3 hours where you get most of what was on your to-do list done. But then noon hits, you have lunch and all of a sudden, all that energy seems to be sucked out of you and you can’t focus and all you want is for the clock to hit 17:00 so you can close your laptop and head home. You may think the reason you’re so tired is because you had a long day or a heavy morning but what if I told you that that may not be the case? What if the reason you’re so tired is because of nutrition and your food choices rather than physical and mental fatigue due to work? Let’s break it down.
Our bodies have an internal clock that affects when we sleep and wake up, this is called our circadian rhythm. It is tightly linked to the light and dark cycles which explains why we are likely to feel awake and alert during the day and sleepy during the night. Our eating behaviours can also have an effect of our circadian rhythm, a number of studies have shown that eating irregularly can throw our circadian rhythm out of its desired pattern. Since the development of artificial light, humans have strayed from the original pattern of eating and being active during the day and resting through the night. Dietary intake that is misaligned with the natural rhythms of the circadian clock has been shown to negatively impact human health, including our sleep quality and duration. Ensuring that we eat at the same time (more or less) will help align our circadian rhythm which in turn will improve not only our sleep but our energy levels throughout the day. Let’s look at different methods that can improve our energy levels.
Time Restricted Eating
Time restricted eating is defined as the consumption of food during a specific period followed by a fast during a subsequent period. In general, this means eating during the light phase when the body is in the active state and fasting during the dark phase when the body is ready to rest and repair (although this can change depending on the hourly split the individual follows). Following time restricted eating will put your body in position to be energetic during the day (assuming you’re consuming long lasting energetic foods during the day) and in repair mode during the evening which in turn will help avoid any midday crash and improve the quality and length of your sleep.
Protein
The beautiful thing about nutrition is that it enables us to compose our meals in ways that can greatly benefit us. We can strategically structure our meals to help keep us alert and active when necessary and settled in for better sleep when required during the night-time. Protein greatly contributes to this. One of the building blocks (amino acids) of protein is tryptophan which can be found in animal-based protein (tuna, turkey and chicken) and nuts & seeds. When consumed, tryptophan gets absorbed by our brains and is converted into serotonin which helps us feel good and calm amongst other positive feelings (research has shown that serotonin improves mood, depression, memory skills and visual cognition). Serotonin is then converted into melatonin, which is a hormone that has been associated with the control of our sleep.
Research has shown that individuals consuming more protein during the day have better and longer sleep than individuals who consume less. It is important to note however, excessive protein intake does not necessarily improve you sleep-wake cycle so there is no need to buy protein powders if you are already getting your protein from your meals throughout the day.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are not essential to the human body, meaning we do not need them to function/survive. However, they play an important role when it comes to our energy levels. There are two types of carbs, slow digesting carbs (brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes etc.) and fast digesting carbs (fruit, white bread, pasta etc.). It is wise to have slow digesting carbs during the day because this will give us a steady supply of energy and help us stay energetic and focused when we need to. During the night, fast digesting carbs will help increases the amount of tryptophan that gets absorbed by our brain which will increase our melatonin levels which increases our chances of falling into a deep sleep.
To summarize, we can compose our meals to improve our sleep wake cycle by including slow digesting carbs during the day and fast digesting carbs during the evening. If you struggle to understand the difference between the two just remember that slow digesting carbs (low GI) have a large amount of fibre and fast digesting carbs (high GI) do not.
Fats
A higher intake of saturated fats has been linked to a difficulty of falling asleep. This is because saturated fats can cause inflammation, which can be good in the short term but not in the long term. You should aim to limit, not eliminate, saturated fats and increase fats high in Omega 3. Foods rich in Omega 3 include hemp seeds, salmon and walnuts.
Caffeine
Caffeine has a long life cycle. What I mean by this is that consuming just a cup of coffee or an energy drink can last you the entire day. It is wise to have caffeine products earlier in the day (10:00-14:00) and limit our intake later on in the day.
Hydration
Dehydration may lead to fatigue and a drop in cognitive performance. Ensure that you stay hydrated by filling up a large water bottle with water in the morning and sip throughout the day.
Summary
A precious commodity that we have and own is our time, it is precious because once it’s gone, it’s gone, you can never get it back again so using it wisely and optimally is essential in improving our performance. Following the methods listed above can help optimize our time because it improves our energy levels and performance during the day and enables us to get a good night’s rest during the night to ensure we get after it the next day!
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