Sleep & starchy at night - Let's kill the myth

We're currently professionally translating all content. In the meantime, this article has been translated by Google Translate. Sorry if this isn't 100% relevant.

Sleep should occupy nearly a third of our life. Often seen as a waste of time, it is of paramount importance to our health and well-being, just like diet or exercise.

What are its exact functions? What are the sleep cycles? What are the repercussions of poor sleep or too short nights? How to improve it? How can diet and micro-nutrition help?

Throughout this week, we will try to answer these questions!

Sleep & starchy at night - Yes or no?

Too often, we hear that we should not eat starchy foods at night because "we will store sugars in the form of fat during sleep, since we use little or no energy during the night." This shortcut can have exactly the opposite effect!

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that people with a low carbohydrate diet (20 to 40 gr / day) were more prone to depression, anxiety, tantrums, less patient than those Consuming regular carbohydrates ... Indeed, the two main brain inhibitors, GABA and serotonin (neurotransmitters), are mainly activated by foods containing high quality carbohydrates, such as fruits, legumes and whole grains.

Carbohydrates in the evening are important because they will activate GABA, which allows us to really take hold of our brains and improve the quality of deep sleep.

As for serotonin, the precursor of melatonin, our sleep hormone, it is the red thread of our sleep, since it intervenes in all sleep cycles.

And without a good sleep, a good physical and psychic regeneration is not possible. In addition, the hormones of satiety, leptin and appetite, ghrelin, will also be disrupted.

Therefore, a portion of carbohydrates in the evening is recommended; just a portion ... a cooked portion that equates to his own fist!

In summary, it is important to pay attention to its consumption of sugars, but do not try to eliminate it completely from your diet and especially not at the end of the day.

It is therefore better to consume a portion of starchy foods and sleep well than to save a few calories, a bad night ... and bad days!