(NaturalHealth365) According to the American Sleep Association, over 30% of Americans deal with insomnia, and 10% of the population reports chronic insomnia. For those over the age of 60, those numbers go up to 40-60% of this age group suffering from insomnia. Unfortunately, this common sleep disorder often results in falling asleep unintentionally during the day, which can be particularly dangerous if you’re driving.

While there are many different potential causes for insomnia, a recent study found that women who eat a lot of processed grains and sweets have a higher risk of suffering from insomnia. If you’re reaching for the sugar during the day or grabbing white bread and other processed grains regularly, it could be affecting your sleep.

High dietary glycemic index resulted in higher levels of insomnia

Researchers came across this information by checking out data from the food diaries of over 50,000 women who had already gone through menopause and were in their mid-60s. Menopause is already associated with an increased risk of insomnia and sleep problems. Their focus was on the dietary glycemic index, which measures how many foods the women were eating that could contribute to a sudden spike in their blood sugar.

They discovered that the women who had the highest dietary glycemic index scores – which means they were eating a lot of refined carbs like sugary sweets, sodas, and white bread – had an 11% higher risk of reporting insomnia when the study started. These same women had a 16% higher risk of developing insomnia within the three years following the study.

The lead study author noted that their results prove how important diet can be for people dealing with insomnia. In fact, beyond weight control, preventing insomnia is another good reason to skip the white bread and sugar.

While researchers didn’t look specifically at how eating processed grains and sweets causes insomnia, the hormonal changes this type of eating causes may be responsible. When your blood sugar goes up quickly, the body releases more insulin, which drops the blood sugar rapidly. The drop in blood sugar may result in the release of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which can make it difficult to sleep.

A low glycemic diet controls blood sugar and improves sleep

The study also found that women whose diet had greater amounts of fiber, whole fruits, and veggies had a lower chance of developing insomnia. While whole fruits do contain sugar, they also have fiber – which reduces blood sugar spikes and makes them lower on the glycemic index.

While a low glycemic diet is often recommended to individuals who need to lose weight or those who need to do a better job at controlling their blood sugar levels, eating this way may also help improve sleep.

Again, to be perfectly clear, white bread (and other processed carbs), plus sugar will greatly increase your risk of insomnia.  So, it’s essential to limit the consumption of these toxic foods.

No doubt, replacing them with healthier, low glycemic index foods will help you: stabilize blood sugar levels, promote a better night’s sleep, improve your body weight composition and avoid disease symptoms.

Sources for this article include:

NutritionalWellness.com
Yahoo.com
SleepAssociation.org