Vegans Sleep: How Being A Vegan Can Improve Sleep

Vegans have always had nutritious and health benefits from their daily meals. Who would have thought that plant-based meals could also help vegans sleep at night?

Sure, there’s a lot to know about this, and this post examines how a vegan lifestyle improves sleep for you. 

How Vegan Lifestyle Improves Sleep

Recent research has claimed that being a vegan might help improve your sleep.

Vegans sleep well at night because of some hormones in the body that are triggered by plant-based meals. These hormones are essential for good sleep, and they include:

• Tryptophan: Tryptophan is an amino acid whose job is to promote sleep. You can find this in plant-based foods like bananas and kale. 
• Melatonin: Melatonin is released when your body responds to the changes in light of your room. You can find it in cherries, spinach, and tomatoes.
• Serotonin: Your body uses serotonin to synthesize melatonin. You can find it in some plant-based foods like cucumber, mushrooms, walnuts, soy, potatoes, etc. 

All of the above are great hormones that can help vegans sleep well at night. 

Aside from these three hormones that get triggered by plant-based foods, there are also other answers to the question of how a vegan lifestyle improves sleep. 

• If you are not a vegan, it probably means you don’t have an objection to taking meat anytime you want it. However, this can affect your sleep in ways you don’t think of. When you take meat before sleep, your body finds it difficult to digest it, and as such, sleep doesn’t come easily. One reason vegans sleep well is that meat is excluded from the diet. 
• Another study by the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine has found that animal-based food and processed meat can worsen your sleep condition. This means that the more animal food you take, the more likely it is for you to find sleeping difficult. Meanwhile, your friends who are vegans sleep well. 
• There have also been links between plant-based diets and low inflammation. If you have achy muscles or joints and they interrupt your sleep because of their discomfort, you can switch to a plant-based meal and have a good vegan sleep. 
• Also, continuously eating animal-based food worsens the condition of people with apnea. So the best thing to do is to switch to plant-based food. 

Meals That Make a Vegan Sleep Sound

If you want to get better vegan sleep at night through your meals, then there are some meals you have to focus on. But, first, you should know that eating tryptophan foods will help you improve your sleep. 

Below are some of the foods that contain tryptophan and can help you increase your sleep.

1. Popcorn: We know you didn’t see that coming, but then, popcorn has a lot of benefits for your sleep. One ounce of popcorn serving contains about 21 grams of carbohydrates. In addition, you can take this popcorn with nutritional yeast and dairy-free butter. 
2. Banana: If you need food to relax your muscle before sleep, a banana is a good fit. Banana has potassium which helps to relax muscles and helps you sleep. You can combine it with some peanut butter toast.
3. Walnuts and Almonds: Walnuts and almonds contain melatonin required for a good sleep. So, you can munch on them hours before you go to bed.
4. Chamomile Tea: If you are looking for something to drink before bed, instead of taking coffee, try chamomile tea. This tea helps to initiate sleep by lowering people’s anxiety because it contains an antioxidant called apigenin. You can take this tea with some snacks before you go to sleep.
5. Vegan Cheese and Crackers: You can try out vegan cheese and crackers before bedtime if you love to munch on something that won’t keep you from sleeping. 
6. Toast and Nut Butter: You can have your toast by spreading some nut butter on it. This gives you the carbohydrate and protein that you need. 
7. Kiwi: Kiwi contains potassium, carotenoids, and vitamin C, which all help to improve sleep. You can take it before your bedtime to help you with sleeping. 
8. Tart Cherry Juice: You can have some tart cherry juice before bed. It contains anthocyanins and tryptophan, which give your body melatonin. 

Should I become a vegan?

Choosing to become a vegan is an incredible decision, and we must say that such a decision should be taken seriously. This is because it requires a lifestyle change, including breaking some long-term habits, especially regarding eating animal-based food. 

If you need some justification, let’s shift your attention to the benefits of plant-based meals on your health, animals, and the environment. 

By becoming a vegan, you need to understand that you will be washing your hands off any animal products. True vegans don’t just abstain from animal foods; they also abstain from all animal products. 

This means that you will not use leather or wool as a vegan. You will also maintain a stance against actions that subject animals to unfair conditions. For instance, horse riding, hunting, and going to zoos. 

If you think all of these are too much, you can still find your way around it, but not as a full vegan anymore. Rather, you will be a plant-based meal advocate or subscriber. This way, you can abstain from taking animal-based meals but still be able to use some animal products, as we mentioned above. 

It is important that you conduct your research into a plant-based meal or being a vegan. This will help you determine how these can benefit you and your family. 

I am a Vegan but Still Deficient In Sleep

One thing that is important to point out is that being a vegan does not translate to immediately having a good sleep time. If you just started your veganism journey, it is important to give it some time. This is to allow your body to acclimatize to the new conditions. 

However, it is possible that even after this, you might find it difficult to find sleep still. The problem is not that being a vegan isn’t working, but that you may not be getting it right. 

For the body to achieve a sleep-wake cycle, it needs vitamin B12, which some plant-based meals lack. You may have been innocently taking plant-based meals that lack this vitamin. Some studies have found that a low vitamin B12 in the body may translate to insomnia and that vitamin B12 deficiency can cause anemia.

Your focus now should be on how to include vitamin B12 in your plant-based meal. Luckily, there are some plants with these vitamins. They include plant-based milk, nutritional yeast, and cereals. Aside from this, it would be best to cut down on some sleep-depriving meals or drinks like coffee that you take before sleep. 

You can also help to improve your vegan sleep by regularly exercising your body and reducing stress. In addition, creating a sleep routine and a neat and comfortable sleep environment while also eating and drinking well will help you improve your sleep. 

Conclusion

If, after all the above, you don’t see an improvement in your sleep, you might need to consult your doctor. 

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