Backgrounder: Food and Insomnia
by Claudia Wong
When I
thought about the story idea behind my backgrounder, I was eager to put a
health spin to it. Since I have a history of insomnia in my family, I figured
“Hey, why not try to find out why and how food affects sleep?” I have read a
few magazine articles about insomnia in the past so, I dug up everything I
could find about food-related topics to insomnia. And truth be told, it was a
tireless episode for me. I spent a few sleepless nights (the irony) researching
all I could understand about insomnia and how diet apparently makes an impact
on people suffering from it.
Surprisingly,
I found out there weren’t many research and studies about insomnia in
Singapore. The only legitimate statistics were dated way back in the 1996s. The
hardest part wasn’t just simplifying medical terminologies into layman’s terms
for the readers – there were a large number of words like “L-tryptophan”,
“complex or unrefined carbohydrates” and whatnot – but also sourcing for
specialists and experts related to the field of study. The latter was truly a
challenging process as I required scientific experts to shed some light on the
relationship between food and insomnia. Fortunately for me, I managed to
interview an expert on both sides – a Nutritionist who is well-versed in diet
and nutrition as well as a Naturopathic Physician who has vast professional
experience and knowledge on insomnia.
At the end
of writing the article, I felt an immense surge of pleasure as I had gained so
much knowledge about insomnia and how easy it is get a good night Zzz’s merely
from eating the right kind of food, as well as avoiding some unhealthy food
habits. Not only can I share the ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ to all the readers out
there, but also to my family members and friends who are suffering from chronic
insomnia or sleep deprivation. I guess now I would be able to provide some
source of comfort and relief when I enlighten them that a healthy diet can
actually be the recipe to their sweet slumber nights!
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