More than one-third of the people in Taiwan have trouble falling asleep. There are many suggestions on the Internet about what to drink and eat before going to bed, which not only calms the nerves but also helps to fall asleep; sleep-aiding food or milk drinks can really help sleep. ? The following research results may be different from what you think.
Huang Xuan, a thoracic and critical care specialist, explained that most sleep aid foods contain a sleep aid called "tryptophan", which is one of the essential amino acids in the human body and cannot be synthesized by the human body. , must be obtained from food. Tryptophan is converted into another substance called "serotonin" in the human body. Serotonin is also a precursor of melatonin. When the secretion of melatonin increases, it will induce sleep.
What you need to know is that these sleep aids must enter the brain before they can start sleep on the brain. It's not enough if the effective sleep aids are in food! The brain has a mechanism. In order to reduce the entry of harmful substances in the circulating blood into the brain tissue, the brain will build a brain barrier, and any sleep aids must pass through this barrier in the first step in order to play a role in sleep.
Huang Xuan cited an international journal published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003. The study compared tryptophan-rich protein foods vs. tryptophan-rich protein foods Comparing carbohydrate foods (protein foods like milk or carbohydrate foods like bread) found:
1. Foods rich in carbohydrates and proteins have significantly different effects on blood tryptophan.
2. Tryptophan, a food rich in carbohydrates, increased by 54% in blood.
3. Tryptophan, a protein-rich food, increases by 28% in blood.
4. After carbohydrate intake, insulin concentration increased significantly, but after protein intake, insulin concentration did not increase.
The researchers expected that protein-rich foods, such as tryptophan in milk, would easily cross the blood-brain barrier, but the results surprised everyone,
Researchers have further found that eating carbohydrate foods rich in tryptophan makes it easier for tryptophan to cross the blood-brain barrier. Further exploration: ingesting foods rich in carbohydrates will stimulate the release of insulin in large quantities, and insulin has a role in helping amino acids other than tryptophan to enter muscle tissue; in this way, in the brain barrier channel With fewer competitors, more tryptophan enters the brain.
And protein-rich foods (milk, eggs), drink a lot of milk before going to bed, the concentration of tryptophan in the blood of sleep aids in milk is not too high, and does not stimulate a large amount of insulin release, of course, more There is no chance to cross the brain barrier to help you sleep.
Drew Dawson, a sleep expert at Central Queensland University in Australia, has also said that, in fact, even without competition from other amino acids, the tryptophan content in a glass of milk is not enough to have any substantial impact on sleep. The little tryptophan content in milk, for ordinary peopleIt's not high, not to mention the melatonin content it's indirectly synthesized, which won't help you sleep at all.
The Harvard Medical School research report also pointed out: Although you may learn later in life that there is not enough scientific evidence to support the practice of drinking warm milk to help sleep, drinking a glass of warm milk before bed , sleep may still be better, why is that?
This is the placebo effect, the belief that arises. Our deep-seated belief that this can work is self-fulfilling confidence. It works because you believe that these sleep aids will help you sleep, and if you implement them, you can fall asleep peacefully.
From a young age, with our parents, we get used to drinking a glass of milk before going to bed. This habit is more like a strong signal for bedtime. As soon as I saw it at night, I immediately made a series of behaviors to respond to sleep: turn off the lights, get under the quilt, close my eyes...all in one go, and then fall asleep. This is a habitual action.
Hot drinks are really relaxing. People usually like to drink hot milk or warm milk before going to bed, the researchers said, which can easily make people feel comfortable and relaxed, and these emotions are beneficial to sleep quality. The researchers also found that "drinking a cup of hot water before going to bed" may have the same effect as drinking hot chocolate, and it can also help with sleep quality.
◎ Source/Healthy Life Record of Dr. Huang Xuan ◎ Image source / Dazhi Image/shutterstock provided
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