In the first quarter of your sleep cycle., 20 minutes is deep sleep, 25 minutes of REM cycle (dream state) and the rest is light sleeping. We often disregard the importance of nutrition on your sleep cycle. Going to bed at the same time each night in a comfortable setting, is essential for healthy sleep patterns and more efficient cellular repair; however we rarely discuss how food and alcohol consumption or over the counter sleep aids affect our sleep cycles.

As we grow to acknowledge food as medicine, it is important to dictate the negative affects that eating too late at night and or consuming alcohol and sleeping pills before bed have on the body.

We do not benefit from a more restful sleep when we are digesting food, therefore it is most beneficial to stop eating at least 2 to 3 hrs before bedtime.

Alcohol is a toxin at which the body does not favor. If you drink wine or any alcoholic beverage before bed, you are causing your organs and liver to work very hard to remove those toxins as quickly as possible, therefor never reaching your deep sleep or REM cycle. You end up reducing the amount of cells being repaired and cause a build up of damaged cells, dehydration and organ dysfunction, which leads to cognitive brain disruption and mental strain. The result in many cases is insomnia.

The essentials of life exist for a reason. These examples are not the only means of repairing your health but they are meant to bring awareness to the causes of sleep disruption and insomnia.