What Can You Do About Night Cravings? by Joan Kent, PhD
Do you crave alcohol or sugar at night – or have trouble getting to sleep without them? Here’s a simple plan for handling night cravings.
Foods change brain chemistry. Alcohol and sugar change brain chem in a big way – and in almost the same way. That’s why we crave them.
Serotonin is a chemical that relaxes us. It can reverse rotten moods due to SAD (seasonal affective disorder), PMS, anxiety, and depression.
At night, we tend to want more serotonin so we can relax. Serotonin is also the precursor of melatonin, sometimes called the sleep hormone.
Bottom line, serotonin can help us wind down and get to sleep. Wanting a serotonin boost before bed is only logical.
Alcohol and sugar are frequent options.
Will Alcohol Help You Sleep?
Alcohol can help you fall asleep. You might even have started using it as a late-night relaxant because it put you to sleep a few times before. The brain remembers that and will prompt a craving for a sleep aid that worked in the past.
But if it’s good quality sleep you’re after, alcohol isn’t the best choice. Until your body has processed the alcohol 100%, you’ll stay in lighter sleep stages.
A full sleep cycle includes light and deep stages. Deeper sleep (theta and delta waves) is more restorative, so the lighter sleep brought on by alcohol might leave you feeling less refreshed.
Is Sugar Any Better for Sleep?
Late-night sugar cravings might be prompted for a similar reason. Maybe eating something sugary helped you fall asleep a few times, so the brain sends cravings for that same sleep “cure.”
BUT!! Sugar and alcohol can wake us after a few hours and make it difficult to get back to sleep. That has to do with low blood glucose, and the impact on your sleep can be severe. In both cases, the effect in the morning may be dramatic and unpleasant.
It’s easy to be casual about sugar, thinking it’s “just” food. Actually, it’s a drug with strong effects on brain chemistry, glucose and hormones.
Don’t underestimate sugar’s impact on your morning-after. One of my clients said, after eating a lot of sugar at night, she would wake up feeling “like I’ve been run over by a truck.” Another client described it as a “sugar hangover.” Both are accurate.
Mixed drinks, like daiquiris, include alcohol and sugar, so you’re likely to get all of the above effects – less restful sleep, middle-of-night awakenings, and morning hangovers. If so, maybe you need a better alternative.
What Works Better Than Alcohol or Sugar?
The end game is to increase serotonin. Starches will do that, usually without side effects.
Starches are the foods most people call “carbs.” (Other foods are carbs, too, including vegetables, fruits, and roots.)
Starches include lentils, quinoa, sweet potatoes, rice, potatoes, pumpkin and other squash, beans, bread, and more.
It doesn’t take much to trigger sleep. A small serving of one of the above starches will help you get to sleep. Eat it 60 to 90 minutes before your desired bedtime and let it work for you.
If you feel you need a bigger serotonin boost, add a bit of saturated fat to the starch, such as coconut oil or butter. The combination will increase insulin release and your serotonin production.
If you try this and still can’t sleep, haul out the big guns. Have a little turkey with one of the combinations above, making a powerful sleep-inducing trifecta.
Keep your portions small to avoid feeling stuffed or ill as you lie in bed. The goal is to shift brain chem, not to eat an extra meal.
If you’d like help with cravings or other food issues, perfect! That’s what I do. Just visit www.LastResortNutrition.com and grab your free Empowered Eating Consult. Discover how you can harness the powers of food to work for you, not against you.
Brought to you by Dr. Joan Kent, best-selling author of Stronger Than Sugar: 7 Simple Steps to Defeat Sugar Addiction, Lift Your Mood, and Transform Your Health.
