Introduction

Summary introductory paragraph here.

A Naturally Good Night of Sleep

Humans have walked the earth for thousands of years and developed sleep patterns that supported our health based on the natural environment that surrounded us during that time. That environment included natural light sources, hours of physical activity each day and food that was hunted, gathered or grown nearby.¹

Over the last 100 years, much of that has changed. The natural cycle of day and night that humans used to induce sleep for thousands of years has been replaced by constant access to artificial sources of light from light bulbs, televisions, computers and mobile devices. Our physical lifestyle doesn't require hours of movement each day and instead, the majority of work life requires just the opposite: sedentary work requiring little movement. And, our food supply has changed dramatically; it now comes from corporations and complex industrial processes rather than from trees, farms and fields. All of these variables, light, movement and diet, influences our ability to sleep and are only a few of the many variables that influence sleep.

We can take measures to modify our lifestyle to restore many of the natural qualities that enhance sleep. This process is called sleep hygiene. We can manage the artificial light in our life, the amount of physical activity we get, what we put in our mouths, how we deal with stress and the physical conditions that we sleep in. When we take the time and attention to learn about what enhances our individual sleep patterns, we have the opportunity to improve one of the most complex and mysterious processes in the human body.

Modern Food Doesn't Support Sleep Health

When compared to our waking activities, sleep seems like a passive activity, something that takes very little effort. However, sleep is a highly complex process that involves many body systems. In order to fall asleep, stay asleep and reap the benefits of deep sleep, our whole body must communicate and work together. Deep sleep involves our nervous system (including our brain, spinal cord and nerves), our endocrine system (hormones that help the cells communicate from great distances in our body), our circulatory system, our musculoskeletal system, our immune system, and more² Consider, for a moment, that our body's only source of fuel and raw materials is what we put in our mouth. The foods we eat and the fluids we drink are the only way we obtain what our bodies need for the hard work we do during the day and the massively complex work that our body does each night during sleep. The standard American diet of processed, factory-made and drive-thru convenience foods is not rich enough in nutrients to provide what we need to stay well for a lifetime.

What to Eat And What not to Eat.

Most of us are familiar with the foods that directly affect the brain and nervous system and keep us awake at night. The two most common foods that interfere with sleep are alcohol and caffeine. Though the mechanism of action is different in the brain, both alcohol and caffeine keep us awake at night. Caffeine typically prevents sleep onset (or the ability to fall asleep) while alcohol typically interferes with sleep maintenance (or the ability to stay asleep).³

Most of us have given little thought to the idea that high quality, minimally processed, plant-based foods yield an improvement in sleep quality. This approach is only recently being research by scientists and emerging evidence is compelling.⁴ For example, foods like tart cherry, tomatoes, walnuts and kiwi, which are natural sources of the sleep hormone melatonin, appear to enhance sleep quality. When we think about diet and sleep in the future, we will consider not only avoiding caffeine and alcohol, but also will seek out and eat highly nutritious, plant-based foods that support the complicated process that is sleep.