Effect of sweet potatoes on sleep

[perchance dreamer]

I recently started eating a sweet potato with dinner 2 or 3 times a week and discovered I sleep a lot better on those nights. After doing some research, I see that sweet potatoes frequently turn up on lists of foods that help sleep.

They have a lot of tryptophan and potassium, so maybe one or both of those things help me. However, supplementing with oral tryptophan and potassium doesn't help my sleep in the least.

I've been on Xyrem for years, and on the Narcolepsy forum on Talk About Sleep, users often recommend supplementing with potassium or eating food rich in it. There's some thought that Xyrem depletes potassium, but my yearly blood tests have never shown anything but perfectly normal sodium and potassium.

Sweet potatoes also have a lot of carbs and naturally occurring sugars which can help sleep, but on occasion when I've had high carbs in other forms with dinner, I haven't noticed any sleep effect.

Anyway, I'm tickled by this discovery. It's so easy to bake a sweet potato at 400 for an hour. I love them, but my husband wouldn't touch one if you held a gun to his head. I think it's one of those foods people either love or hate.

 

[antares4141]

I recently started eating a sweet potato with dinner 2 or 3 times a week and discovered I sleep a lot better on those nights. After doing some research, I see that sweet potatoes frequently turn up on lists of foods that help sleep.

Did you read my post on sleep disorders?

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...ment-for-sleep-disturbance.21077/#post-325259


I used to wake up often at 4am and not get back to sleep for two hours or so. Now sometimes I sleep straight through and others I wake up a little earlier than I would like but closer to when I get up (8am) Usually wake around 6:30 or 7 and doze in and out of sleep so it's still not as bad as in the past.

I've found also that drinking distilled water as opposed to something with minerals like r/o or spring is very helpful in reducing my cfs symtoms, brain fog, fatigue, mild to moderate nuerological symptoms that are hard to describe.
robert christ

 

[perchance dreamer]

Hi, Robert. I did read your post on sleep disorders. The distilled water is interesting although I assume you have to supplement with minerals if you drink it.

I found another food that helps my sleep. A couple of times a week I eat 4 dried turkish figs with dinner.

They have tryptophan and potassium, like sweet potatoes do. Both these foods also have a boatload of carbs, so I try to eat fewer carbs during the day if I eat one of these foods at night.

I wonder if the high carbs is part of why these foods help my sleep. Turkey and chicken at dinner don't help my sleep unless I eat one of the 2 foods I mentioned.

Anyway, I'm guessing that I'm able to convert tryptophan from food to serotonin better than I can do that from tryptophan supplements since they don't help my sleep at all.