We used to believe that the last thing you needed to do to get a good night's sleep was take a spoon of energy food! But surprisingly Raw Honey is great to help aid sleep. Here's the science......
There is research that demonstrates that raw honey improves and lengthens restorative sleep in at least three ways. When taken before bedtime, raw honey:
a) Ensures adequate liver glycogen stores for eight hours of sleep (this prevents or limits the early morning release of two stress hormones, cortisol, and adrenaline).
b) Stabilizes blood sugar levels
c) Contributes to the release of melatonin, the hormone required for both recovery and rebuilding of body tissues during rest. Melatonin promotes the release of growth hormone, which governs all of the recovery physiology. This is the key first step in recovery or restorative physiology that occurs overnight.
A cascade of recovery hormones initiates the repair, maintenance, and rebuilding of bone, muscle, and other body tissues. Melatonin impacts memory consolidation by its requirement for the formation of neural cell adhesion molecules during REM sleep. These molecules are necessary for the processing of short-term memory from the hippocampus into long-term memory in the brain cortex. Simultaneously, the fructose in raw honey carries out its critical role. The liver takes up fructose where some are converted to glucose and then to liver glycogen, thus providing the brain with a sustained supply of glucose for the night fast.
Additionally, fructose regulates glucose uptake into the liver by prompting the release of glucokinase. Thus, fructose ensures good liver glycogen supply overnight and prevents a major glucose/insulin spike and release of stress hormones.
So there you have it. Raw honey is not only a healthy sugar alternative, it contains so many benefits on many levels.
