Breakfast for Sleep

How would eating breakfast improve sleep?

Does the type of breakfast you eat matter for sleep? (yes)

This article will break down the basics of a breakfast to help maximize your brain function, which will help lead to a quality night’s sleep. In order to sleep properly, you must get the most out of the day and your brain.

If you sluggishly flow through the day, you will sluggishly sleep through the night.

In an upcoming article we will discuss the Quantum Nature of the Thyroid. In a simple sense it means supporting the proper circadian rhythm of the body will support a healthy thyroid. Using lifestyle, biochemical and mental approaches can help maximize all the complimentary and necessary systems in the body required to truly maximize your thyroid function.

One massive part of a quality night’s sleep is being awake and maximized during the day. I am sure many people reading this can relate. When you wake up early, rock out at work and get a ton of stuff done, have a great and an exhausting workout, all while eating great meals throughout the day, how do you sleep? Typically when you have great days and accomplish and do a lot, you sleep great. This is the concept:

Maximize your day to sleep through the night. It all begins with breakfast.

Dopamine is the neurotransmitter of focus. Only one type of food stimulates dopamine in a way I like to describe as ‘feeding’ the dopamine system. PROTEIN. One can go down the dark recesses of PubMed and find 100s, if not 1000s, of articles talking about how protein is the best choice for breakfast. It leads to more satiety, better focus, a decrease in calories eaten throughout the day, etc. My favorite being that when someone eats a high protein breakfast, they will consistently eat around 400 calories less during the day. Those calories tend to be simple carbohydrates, even more specifically, eaten at the end of the day. (See Farmer’s Breakfast for a comprehensive article on my ideal breakfast.)

What does this mean? It means, when you eat a proper breakfast (one with protein), you have the focus and drive to function at a high level. You also have the focus and drive to eat the right foods and not binge on sugary, starchy and hyper-palatable foods at the end of the day.

The 24 hour flow of dopamine in the body is very similar to that of Thyroid hormone. It peaks in the morning and dissipates throughout the day. Therefore the best meal of the day to eat protein is breakfast. It ‘feeds’ the dopamine system and also is satiating. This will help someone focus, drive and maximize their day.

One interesting new study found that people who ate a high protein breakfast did not sleep more. They actually slept less total hours (about 30 min less), but they had more REM and deep sleep while also reporting feeling more energetic the next day and feeling more recovered upon waking. It appears like eating a high protein breakfast maximizes your day AND your sleep quality.

If you are looking to maximize your sleep, it is time to start your day with a high protein breakfast and begin seizing the day!