Have you ever experienced a late-night craving for something sweet or savory, only to regret it the next morning? Many have been there. But what if indulging in some peanut butter before bed could actually be good for you? It might sound counterintuitive, but peanut butter can help curb cravings, balance blood sugar levels, promote muscle recovery after exercise, and even improve sleep.
Why Peanut Butter? Nutritional Benefits
Peanut butter isn't just a delicious snack; it can actually help you sleep better at night. It contains healthy fats and protein that provide sustained energy while you sleep. The fat from the peanuts, called oleic acid, takes longer for your body to digest, meaning peanut butter can fuel you while you sleep. The protein also helps your muscles recover overnight.
Peanut butter contains tryptophan, an amino acid that makes you sleepy. Tryptophan is used by your body to produce melatonin, the hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle. Eating peanut butter, or other foods high in tryptophan like turkey, nuts, and seeds, before bed can increase your body's tryptophan levels, which in turn boosts serotonin and melatonin production. Consuming just 2 tablespoons of peanut butter about an hour before bed may help you catch some high-quality zzz's.
Peanut butter also provides magnesium and zinc, two minerals important for sleep. Magnesium helps relax your muscles and calm your mind, making it easier to fall asleep. Peanut butter contains vitamin B6, which helps convert the tryptophan in your diet into serotonin and melatonin. Serotonin is a mood-regulating neurotransmitter that makes you feel relaxed and sleepy.
Peanut butter contains niacin, also known as vitamin B3. This important nutrient helps convert the food you eat into energy. Niacin also helps your cells produce energy and is essential for your body and brain to function properly. The magnesium in peanut butter helps maintain proper blood sugar levels while you sleep. Healthy blood sugar is essential for energy and helps prevent the crash that can lead to restlessness during the night. Peanut butter's healthy combo of protein, fat, and nutrients provides energy in a balanced way. It won't spike and crash your blood sugar like sugary snacks that leave you tossing and turning. Peanut butter's sustained energy and nutritional benefits are why it's the perfect pre-bedtime snack for a solid night of sleep.
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Peanut butter is also high in unsaturated fats like oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that can help lower cholesterol and reduce heart disease risks. Peanut butter contains minerals like magnesium and zinc, which can help relax your mind and body for sleep. Peanut butter is loaded with antioxidants like resveratrol that protect your cells from damage and may help prevent disease. The protein, fiber, and healthy fats in peanut butter help prevent energy crashes that can wake you up during the night. With all these nutritional benefits, it's no wonder peanut butter before bed can help you sleep more soundly through the night.
Key Nutrients in Peanut Butter
- Tryptophan: Essential for producing serotonin, the "feel good" hormone in your brain that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle.
- Magnesium: Helps relax your muscles and calm your mind.
- Vitamin B6: Helps convert tryptophan into serotonin and melatonin.
- Niacin (Vitamin B3): Helps convert food into energy and supports cell function.
- Healthy Fats: Provide sustained energy and support muscle recovery.
- Antioxidants: Protect your cells from damage and may help prevent disease.
Benefits of Eating Peanut Butter Before Bed
1. Keeps You Full and Prevents Midnight Hunger
The protein, fiber, and healthy fats in peanut butter help prevent energy crashes that can wake you up during the night.
2. Stabilizes Blood Sugar Overnight
The magnesium in peanut butter helps maintain proper blood sugar levels while you sleep. Healthy blood sugar is essential for energy and helps prevent the crash that can lead to restlessness during the night.
3. May Boost Your Metabolism
Consuming protein before sleep may support overnight muscle protein synthesis as well as giving a jumpstart to your morning metabolism. Peanut butter contains healthy fats and protein that give you energy for hours. The fat from the peanuts, called oleic acid, takes longer for your body to digest.
4. Promotes Better Sleep
Peanut butter contains tryptophan, an amino acid that makes you sleepy. Tryptophan is used by your body to produce melatonin, the hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle.
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How to Incorporate Peanut Butter into Your Bedtime Routine
So go ahead and spread some peanut butter on whole wheat bread, apples, or bananas about an hour before your target bedtime. The tryptophan will help lull you to sleep, while the protein and healthy fats keep you full all night long.
If you are going to combine your nighttime peanut butter with something to make a snack, stay away from nutrient void simple carbohydrates such as white bread. While this combo may bring back fond memories of your childhood, the white bread could cancel out the benefits of the peanut butter. You’re much better off enjoying a banana with the peanut butter (which is one of my favorites). The banana is equally packed with nutrients, some of which, specifically potassium and magnesium, are also known to promote relaxation.
Peanut Butter vs. Chocolate: Which is the Better Bedtime Snack?
Two guilty pleasures that also happen to have nutritional and health benefits are peanut butter and chocolate. Put them together and you have what some would consider the ultimate comfort treat. However, as with all things related to food and nutrition, the truth is not quite that simple. It turns out that one of them is a great idea for a bedtime snack while the other is best enjoyed earlier in the day.
While chocolate offers a variety of nutritional and health benefits, including reducing stress, lowering cholesterol, promoting better cardiovascular health, and even possibly preventing cognitive decline, depending on the type, chocolate contains various amounts of two of the biggest enemies to a good night’s sleep - caffeine and sugar. The former can keep you awake and from getting enough deep sleep once you eventually do nod off. It also has theobromine, which while being great for reducing your risk for cardiovascular disease, can also keep you awake much in the same way caffeine can. The sugar can impact the amount of magnesium (which helps you relax) in your body which can impact sleep. It also causes a spike in your blood sugar which is then followed by a “sugar crash” which can cause you to wake up. If provoking a bout with insomnia at bedtime weren’t enough, some studies also suggest that eating chocolate before bed can give you nightmares. The culprit is theorized to be the sugar in chocolate.
Other Foods That May Help Promote Sleep
Other nutrient-rich foods beside peanut butter that have been shown to help promote sleep include:
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- Kiwi: According to various studies, kiwis may be one of the best foods to eat before bed. Over a 4-week study, 24 adults consumed two kiwifruits one hour before going to bed each night. At the end of the study, participants fell asleep 42% more quickly.
- Cherries: Few things are natural sources of melatonin, and cherries are one of them. It is considered the ‘sleep hormone’. Melatonin is said to help with sleep disorders and insomnia. Cherries are also packed with nutrients such as iron, potassium, and vitamins C and A.
- Bananas: Bananas seem to have everything you need contained in one peelable food.
Foods to Avoid Before Bed
Other foods you should avoid before going to sleep include cheese, ice cream, salty foods, spicy foods, acidic foods, alcohol (including wine and beer), and fatty foods. Of course, caffeinated beverages such as coffee and colas are out. You should try to not eat any chocolate after around 4 or 5 pm to give your body time to metabolize its caffeine.
The Calorie Question: Will Peanut Butter Before Bed Cause Weight Gain?
Peanut butter is a calorie-dense food that’s rich in heart-healthy fats. Just 2 tablespoons (32 grams) provide 204 calories and 16 grams of fat. Therefore, it’s a great food for a healthy, balanced diet, but large amounts may increase your daily calorie intake. If you consume more calories than you burn throughout the day, you may gain weight in the long run. Nonetheless, weight gain is based on many factors, including your age, size, activity level, health status, and overall calorie intake. In fact, you can eat peanut butter as part of a diet for either weight loss or weight gain depending on what else you’re eating during the day.
Keep in mind that peanut butter is not a low-calorie food with two tablespoons packing a whopping 188 calories. So, enjoy, but do so in moderation.
Balancing Act: Calorie Intake and Health Goals
If you’re trying to lose weight, consider lower calorie snacks like hummus, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, or fresh fruit instead. However, if you’re trying to gain weight, build muscle, boost metabolism, or improve sleep quality, snacking on a spoonful of peanut butter can be a good choice, as it supplies key nutrients like protein, vitamins, minerals, heart-healthy fats, and tryptophan.
Choosing the Right Peanut Butter
I also recommend looking for the most natural peanut butter you can find - avoid added sugars or overly-processed spreads. If you are feeling a little adventurous, you can even make your own by just putting peanuts in a food processor for about five minutes. Very easy and quite fun!
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that all peanut butter must contain at least 90% peanuts in the final product. According to recommendations from health experts, choosing peanut butter comprising only peanuts means there are no added sugars or fats. Additionally, a peanut butter that consists of unblanched peanuts - with their skins still on - has been shown to contain higher levels of fiber and antioxidants.
Scientific Studies and Research
While no single snack will knock you out instantly or guarantee a perfectly restful night, research suggests that incorporating foods rich in tryptophan, magnesium, and calcium, for example, supports your body’s natural process of winding down.
One clinical study found that people who ate two kiwis an hour before bed fell asleep faster and slept longer. The fruit contains melatonin, antioxidants, and folate-all of which the study points out are believed to play an important role in sleep or oxidative stress recovery.
Firefighter Study: Peanut Butter and Sleep
Sleep is often impaired in firefighters due to the psychologically and physiologically intense nature of their work and working shift schedules. Peanut butter is affordable and a substantial source of monounsaturated fatty acids, which may aid sleep health. Thus, this study sought to determine if a daily serving of peanut butter consumed before bedtime for seven weeks altered sleep quality and quantity among full-time firefighters.
Forty firefighters (peanut butter group = 20; control group = 20) participated in this eight-week randomized controlled trial. All participants completed a subjective questionnaire on mood, focus, and alertness twice daily and wore an Actigraph wristwatch to measure sleep variables, including latency, efficiency, time in bed, time asleep, wake after sleep onset, number of awakenings, and time spent awake. After a baseline week, the peanut butter group consumed two tablespoons of peanut butter two hours prior to bedtime for seven weeks. Compared to the control group, the peanut butter group did not demonstrate significant changes (p > 0.05) in sleep measures or subjective feelings of mood, focus, or alertness after consuming peanut butter for seven weeks.
Potential Downsides and Considerations
Late-night snacking can lead to weight gain, and studies highlight a link between diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. A 2019 study suggests this may be because people tend to choose higher calorie foods in the evening.
Mindful Eating and Portion Control
Mindful eating - paying attention to the food and what they are eating - may reduce overeating. Portion size is also important. As a general rule, snacks should not have more than 250 calories and count towards a person’s daily total of calories. Daily caloric needs vary depending on activity and age, but most adult females need 1,600-2,200 per day, while adult males need 2,000-3,200.