Let’s continue to build your grocery list with those foods that can help support good quality SLEEP - a pillar in Keeping Well.
This week, we focus on a certain amino acid needed to formulate the all-important sleep neurotransmitters + hormones. Look for a list of foods as good tryptophan sources later in the article!
Add this one to your list: TRYPTOPHAN RICH FOODS.
BECAUSE MELATONIN
In order for your body to make the get-to-sleep-hormone Melatonin, you need some ingredients: chief among them, the amino acid tryptophan. Because tryptophan gets converted into Serotonin at the gut level (with the help of your microbiome + endocrine cells in your gut) and then that gets converted into Melatonin. Therefore, tryptophan —> serotonin —> melatonin = sleep like a teenager.
BECAUSE MOOD
Studies show that those who struggle with moods sometimes have lower tryptophan levels in their blood. Where tryptophan levels were lower, study participants reported higher anxiety, and a lower emotional resiliency. If you understand that serotonin is a feel-good neurotransmitter, when tryptophan levels are low, the production of serotonin can start to wane, which may contribute to lower moods. Those who struggle with insomnia will often also struggle with mood and anxiety.
BECAUSE HORMONAL + BLOOD SUGAR BALANCE
Once you rev up production of Melatonin (via the consuming + assimilation of Tryptophan, and then conversion into Serotonin via the gut) you are not only able to support your pineal gland function and improve sleep, the hormone Melatonin is able to be Queen Bee - helping to balance all other hormones and keep the out-of-balance ones in check. With deeper + better quality sleep, so comes the building blocks of hormonal balance - but also blood sugar balance. This work takes place under a deep sleep in the night! Interesting to note that hormonal and blood sugar imbalances can be triggering insomnia as well. It’s a catch 22, it would seem!
Easiest way to pinpoint those foods that offer a good amount of tryptophan: ALL COMPLETE PROTEIN.
FOODS THAT OFFER A GOOD AMOUNT OF TRYPTOPHAN: poultry, animal + fish protein, seafood, eggs, most nuts + seeds and their butters, spirulina, dairy, peanuts, whole wheat, beans + legumes (properly 'activated'), leek, tomatoes, dark leafy greens, potatoes, apricots, raisins, avocado, plums, kiwi, plantain, peaches, mustard, fenugreek, spearmint, fennel, caraway. Your highest and most bio-available amounts will be found in your animal protein from land and water.
So build your grocery list accordingly there, friend! Protein for the good-sleep win! (Keeping my fingers crossed that you can digest like a pro. But that’s a post for another day.)
Struggle with sleep issues? I’m throwing a Vitality: SLEEP class, coming up in November. Find the full details here.