I have known of this for years, but I have never worked out why. Very consistently, if I have curry in the evening, then I sleep all night. Otherwise I usually wake up 3-5am.
The first thing I know you will say is "it's the curcumin!" As I have posted before curcumin is one of the only things that does help me sleep (the other being lipospheric vitamin C). However, it has to be a particular brand (Enhansa), otherwise I get no effect at all. Enhansa was developed for increased absorption. Anyway, Enhansa only helps me sleep an extra couple of hours (i.e. it prevents me from waking at 3 and usually guarantees I sleep until at least 5am). Whereas curry will help me sleep the whole night. I also tend to eat much larger quantities of curry than I would any other meal.
Obviously curry does not contain any kind of special curcumin (just regular turmeric, although it may be freshly ground). There are many reports that curcumin's absorption is enhanced when it is cooked in oil. In order to test this, I have very many times tried many doses of turmeric cooked in oil/fats and have got absolutely no effect from this.
There are many other spices in curries (e.g. cumin, coriander, paprika, chilli, ginger, garlic, methi, curry leaves, fenugreek, asafoetida, cinnamon, clove, cardamom etc.). I tried many times cooking with all of these (and more), again with no effect on my sleep. Perhaps I am using the wrong ratios/doses. Perhaps I need much more salt (British Indian curry is very salty), or particular kinds of oils. Other salty foods do not seem to have an effect on me though.
So, it's a real mystery - home cooked curry has no effect.
I hope others could try this, and some of you may have ideas about why it works?
BTW: For those of you outside of the UK who do not know, Indian curry is the most popular dish in the UK, there are many restaurants and the food is always incredibly tasty. They use some kind of special cooking techniques which I have found impossible to replicate at home. For those who know indian food, the kind of dishes I am talking of are rogan josh, bhuna, balti, saag bhaji, bombay aloo etc.
The first thing I know you will say is "it's the curcumin!" As I have posted before curcumin is one of the only things that does help me sleep (the other being lipospheric vitamin C). However, it has to be a particular brand (Enhansa), otherwise I get no effect at all. Enhansa was developed for increased absorption. Anyway, Enhansa only helps me sleep an extra couple of hours (i.e. it prevents me from waking at 3 and usually guarantees I sleep until at least 5am). Whereas curry will help me sleep the whole night. I also tend to eat much larger quantities of curry than I would any other meal.
Obviously curry does not contain any kind of special curcumin (just regular turmeric, although it may be freshly ground). There are many reports that curcumin's absorption is enhanced when it is cooked in oil. In order to test this, I have very many times tried many doses of turmeric cooked in oil/fats and have got absolutely no effect from this.
There are many other spices in curries (e.g. cumin, coriander, paprika, chilli, ginger, garlic, methi, curry leaves, fenugreek, asafoetida, cinnamon, clove, cardamom etc.). I tried many times cooking with all of these (and more), again with no effect on my sleep. Perhaps I am using the wrong ratios/doses. Perhaps I need much more salt (British Indian curry is very salty), or particular kinds of oils. Other salty foods do not seem to have an effect on me though.
So, it's a real mystery - home cooked curry has no effect.
I hope others could try this, and some of you may have ideas about why it works?
BTW: For those of you outside of the UK who do not know, Indian curry is the most popular dish in the UK, there are many restaurants and the food is always incredibly tasty. They use some kind of special cooking techniques which I have found impossible to replicate at home. For those who know indian food, the kind of dishes I am talking of are rogan josh, bhuna, balti, saag bhaji, bombay aloo etc.