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Are your snacking habits hitting the snooze button on the brain alarm clock ?

Posted by Dr Sandy on in Sleep | 565 Views | 2 Responses

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The perfect snack for an energy crisis

orexin the wake up alarmIt is late afternoon – your get up and go, has got and left.

The current slump is unresponsive to your usual chemical fix i.e. cup of caffeine laced coffee.

What should you do ?

Packing up and going home is not an option, neither is catching 40 winks whilst staring at your computer screen, since your boss is hovering.

Time for a sugar snack

Odds are, you reach for a sugar snack, reasoning that the brain runs on sugar, so providing the brain with a quick sugar snack,  should lift your energy level.

Of course, using this brain fix on a routine basis could leave you with a weight problem that will need fixing later.

Research from the University of Cambridge, suggests munching a bite of protein would be a far better brain fix, than that sugar snack.

Keeping awake

Several chemicals control how awake and energized you feel.

One set of chemicals which plays a big role in wakefulness and energy expenditure is orexin/hypocretin.

In fact, orexin neurons act a lot like your internal alarm clock.

When these neurons are on, they send out electrical signals which are irritating enough to wake everyone else up.

Fortunately orexin cells are thin on the ground – so the wake up call is a fairly muted affair. A low buzz enures alertness, without panic. Something bedside alarm clocks don’t always get right.

Of course, there are pathologies in which orexin neurons malfunction, narcolepsy is one such problem.

What triggers our alarm clock

Sugar feeds the brain, so it is logical to assume a sugar  snack, would trigger the orexin alarm clock.

But research from the University of Cambridge suggests the orexin alarm clock is not particularly fired up by carbs. In fact, just the opposite happens – glucose hits the snooze button on the clock.

sugar silencing the orexin alarm clock

In fact, the sleepy feelings which often follow a big meal, are probably caused by the post-prandial sugar spike, hitting the snooze button.

So a sugar snack may lift your spirits by providing a dab of dopamine, but it won’t actually shake you awake.

Protein hides the snooze button

Just like most of us tend to reach for the snooze button when the alarm rudely interrupts our dreams, the body has a habit of hitting the snooze button, since sugars are always around.

It takes a dose of protein to block the snooze button response.

The Cambridge team discovered the presence of amino acids, nutrients found in proteins such as eggs, ended up triggering the alarm and waking the neighbouring cells.

Eat to sleep or not

More evidence that calories are not created equal.

All meals, including your mid-afternoon snack, should include a touch of protein, to fire off enough orexin to wake up your brain.

Ideally, aim to obey the rule of thirds – 1/3 protein, 1/3 fat and 1/3 carbohydrate, this will also keep inflammation in check plus keep you bright eyed and bushy tailed.

PS. If you want to snooze, watch the level of protein intake just before you climb into bed. You don’t want to wake up all the neurons in your head, just as your head hits the pillow.

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Activation of Central Orexin/Hypocretin Neurons by Dietary Amino Acids. Neuron, 2011; 72 (4): 616. Mahesh M. Karnani, John Apergis-Schoute, Antoine Adamantidis, Lise T. Jensen, Luis de Lecea, Lars Fugger, Denis Burdakov.

Further reading

pistachio nuts improve heart resilience

If you must nibble when stressed, nibble on something de-stressing

Stress brings out the need to nibble, for a diabetic, the choices are limited, so what should a diabetic snack on ?

stop eating chip

Chips ahoy – the science of dodging run away chip consumption

You planned to eat a few chips from the packet but you end up eating the whole packet – a few red chips are all that’s needed to avoid a chip pig out

enjoying an exercise snack

The pre-dinner snack that stops sugar levels spiking

We’re living on the run – so snacking is a cultural norm. Snacking is seldom GOOD FOR YOU, but exercise snacking is the exception, so go on, indulge yourself….

Want to discover more ways to create BETTER BODY CHEMISTRY ?

Posted in Sleep | Tagged alarm clock, awake, brain, caffeine, calories, dopamine, eggs, energy, glucose, narcolepsy, neurons, orexin, post-prandial, protein, rule of thirds, snooze button, sugar, weight

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