A specific cheese, chosen for its maturation, contains nutrients capable of boosting melatonin and falling asleep according to a large study.
Science has just shown that cheese slows cognitive decline, but did you know that it can also have benefits for sleep? If cheese has long been banned from dinners for fear that it is too fatty and heavy to digest, food specialists are today more nuanced: you can eat it in the evening as long as you respect a few common sense rules. A major study published in the scientific journal Food Science & Nutrition gives answers about the best cheese to fall asleep to.
Although they all share the same base (milk), cheeses do not all have the same impact on sleep. The difference is mainly due to the concentration of nutrients and ripening: the older and harder a cheese is, the less water it contains, and the more concentrated its essential amino acids, such as tryptophan. This tryptophan serves as a “brick” for the body to produce serotonin, which is then converted into melatonin, the sleep hormone. You must therefore choose a suitable cheese to provide your brain with high-quality fuel, particularly effective in promoting sleep.
The cheeses most concentrated in tryptophan are mature pressed cheeses, and more particularly Cheddar. Forget industrial cheddar in plastic slices, here we are talking about Old Cheddar (often called Mature or Extra Mature: 9 to 18 months of maturation). The latter responds in every way to the conclusions of science: it not only provides tryptophan, it also provides magnesium, zinc and vitamin B6. This is the typical example of the complete “sleep pack” cheese, where these three elements act as essential workers to help the brain transform tryptophan into melatonin. Just behind old cheddar, we find Parmesan and mature Comté.
It is better to consume this cheese preferably 2 to 3 hours before bedtime: its richness in nutrients gives the body time to activate the nighttime chemistry, while avoiding blocking digestion once you lie down. For people prone to insomnia, it is recommended to consume this cheese during a light dinner, but especially not in the middle of a heavy meal at the risk of having difficult digestion.
In order not to make a mistake in the quantities and not to overdo it, nutritionists recommend an infallible and visual method shared by nutritionist Nina Voit in a previous article on the cheese richest in proteins: the size of your index and middle fingers combined represents the ideal quantity of cheese to consume in the evening. Basically, it forms a rectangle that is the size of your two fingers put together. This corresponds to approximately a 20 to 30 gram serving. Indeed, the study raises a crucial point of vigilance: an excess of saturated fatty acids at the end of the day tends to reduce deep sleep time.
