Sleep expert says breakfast ‘hacks’ can improve sleep at night
Most of us tend to think about getting a better night's sleep when our head finally hits the pillow at the end of the day.
But according to one sleep expert, the quality of your sleep is actually decided much earlier than that - at breakfast.
Marie-Pierre St-Onge, an associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center who has spent years researching the link between diet and sleep, says a few simple changes to her breakfast have become hacks to her sleep better at night.
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Detailing the morning routine that helps her sleep well, St-Onge told The Washington Post: "I usually wake up around 6:15 or 6:30 a.m. and then I have breakfast around 7 or 7:15 a.m. I usually have breakfast cereal with milk and a half banana."
It's not just any bowl of cereal, though.
"I don't eat sugary cereals," she explained. "I like to eat high-fiber cereals like Kashi Go and Nature's Path Heritage Flakes."
As for the banana, St-Onge explained that adding the fruit to her morning diet came from ‘doing research on how diet impacts sleep.’
She explained: “There was a study that showed better melatonin secretion after consumption of bananas, or juice from pineapples or oranges.
"I wasn't putting banana in my cereal three or four years ago. And now I do it every morning."
Melatonin is often referred to as the body's ‘sleep hormone’, helping signal when it's time to wind down and head to bed.
According to the research St-Onge referred to, certain fruits - including bananas - may help encourage melatonin secretion.
Meanwhile, choosing a high-fibre breakfast over one packed with added sugar could also help support better sleep by contributing to a healthier overall diet.
Of course, if you’re prone to a poor night’s sleep, a bowl of cereal and half a banana isn’t going to be the silver bullet that fixes everything.
Sleep is influenced by just about everything from stress and caffeine to exercise, screen time and your overall diet.
But St-Onge's breakfast routine is a reminder that what you eat from first thing in the morning to late in the evening could play a part in how well you sleep at night.
So if you're looking for an easy food swap to try, skipping the sugary cereal and adding a few more fibre-rich foods to your breakfast might not be a bad place to start.
Ali Condon