The Sleep Conversation I'm Having More And More Often
I could happily be a bear and hibernate all winter long. In fact, if it were a life or death situation and I absolutely had to choose, I'd (probably) choose sleep over food any day.
From the day and hour my siblings and I took our first breath, my mother (who was a nurse at the time) trained us to become the champion sleepers we are.
But from the conversations I'm part of every day, I'm very aware that a good night's sleep is not everyone's reality.
What Your Sleep, ADHD and Anxiety Have in Common
The answer is neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters, like hormones, are basically chemical messengers involved in things like mood, focus, motivation and sleep.
Lately, I've been running quite a few nutrigenomics reports for clients to give me added insight into their neurotransmitter pathways, particularly where there's grey areas between their sleep, ADHD-type symptoms, anxiety, and the rest of their hormone symptoms.
Nutrigenomics is the study of how the food and nutrients you eat affects your gene expression. What I like about these reports is that they don't just focus purely on your genetic strengths or vulnerabilities. They help us identify practical ways to support them through nutrition and lifestyle factors.
In fact, it was one of the first functional tests I ordered for my own son when he was diagnosed with ADHD.
He'll tell you himself what a difference optimising those pathways made to his concentration and memory. He went from almost failing the year to his best academic year. And no, I don’t believe it was a happy coincidence.
Now, I know my usual content can sometimes get a little nerdy and take us down a rabbit hole, so let's park the potential to turn this blog post into a mini biochemistry lecture on neurotransmitters and pathways - and focus on why I love studying them instead!
It’s because they help me to answer your questions:
Why am I lying awake at night when I'm exhausted?
Why am I waking at 3am?
Why does my brain feel foggy?
And is there anything I can actually do about it?
What Your Body Needs to Make Melatonin
When I'm looking for clues about sleep patterns or lack thereof, my mind immediately goes to serotonin.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter involved in mood, appetite and wellbeing, and it is also what your body uses to make melatonin - the neurotransmitter/hormone that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle.
What many people don't realise is that in order to make either serotonin and melatonin you need sufficient tryptophan, which comes from the protein you eat.
Before I veer off on a tangent and lose you altogether, all you only really need to understand or remember is this:
Your body needs certain nutrients in certain amounts to help make serotonin from tryptophan, and melatonin from serotonin. And the amounts needed depend on your gene variants, food and lifestyle.
A good night's sleep doesn't actually begin when your head hits the pillow. It starts much earlier.
Which is important because when we're struggling with sleep, we often focus on what happens at 10pm, while completely overlooking the choices we made at 10am.
A Sleep-Supporting Breakfast Muffin
10am is breakfast time for some, mid-morning coffee and croissant time for others. And the choices you’re making can have a knock-on effect on your energy and sleep levels for the rest of the day.
If you’re looking for a prepare-ahead breakfast or brunch that gives you enough energy to see you through the morning and sets you up for a better night’s sleep, let me save you the time. I’ve done the work so you don’t have to.
Crispy Sweet Potato, Turkey & Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins
This is one of those recipes that look far more impressive than the effort required to make them.
These muffins are packed with protein, easy to batch cook and make a great breakfast, lunch or afternoon snack.
Makes 6 muffins
Ingredients
1 large sweet potato
2 eggs
150g cottage cheese
80g cooked turkey, finely diced (or cooked salmon)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
Baby spinach leaves or rocket, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh chives (or tarragon), chopped
Salt and black pepper
A little olive oil or coconut for greasing
Method
Roast the sweet potato in an air fryer or oven until soft (approximately 25 mins at 200c)
Once cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and mash it lightly.
Grease a 6-hole muffin tin with a little olive oil.
Divide the sweet potato between the six holes and press it into the base and slightly up the sides to create a little potato case.
Season with a little sea salt and roast for until crispy (20 mins)
Blend together the eggs, cottage cheese, and nutritional yeast.
Divide the turkey/salmon and chopped greens among the sweet potato bases. Pour over the cottage cheese and egg mix and finish with fresh chopped herbs.
Bake at 180°C for around 20–25 minutes, or until the filling is set and lightly golden.
Leave to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tin.
Store in the fridge and enjoy warm or cold.
Why do I like them?
Because they contain many of the raw ingredients or nutrients you need to make the your all-important sleep hormone - Melatonin:
The turkey, eggs and cottage cheese provide some of the vitamin D, zinc and amino acids needed at the beginning of the serotonin-to-melatonin pathway.
Nutritional yeast can contribute several B vitamins involved in normal energy and metabolic processes.
The sweet potato provides carbohydrate, which can influence the availability of tryptophan to the brain.
And the spinach and herbs add magnesium, fibre, colour and more nutrients to the mix.
They’re the kind of things you can make once and have sitting ready in the fridge for a few days.
I’m not saying these muffins will cure your insomnia, but they’re as good a place to start as a google search for a miracle sleep cure.
What else can you do to get a better night’s sleep?
Getting daylight exposure within 45 minutes of waking
Protein with every meal - enough according to your ideal weight and level of activity
Dinner 2-3 hours before bed.
A 10 minute walk after dinner.
Dim indoor lighting when it gets dark outside.
Swap scrolling and screen exposure for a book in the last hour before bed.
A cool, dark room to sleep in
These are general recommendations you can certainly try.
But the truth is if sleep is no friend of yours, you’ve probably seen them all before.
If you’ve been there, done that, maybe what you really need is a little detective work to figure out what you’re really missing.
Maybe the answers are in a nutrigenomics report, maybe they’re elsewhere?
If you’re interested in exploring your options, I’d love to help. Book a free call, or enquire through the contacts page and we can figure them out together.
