this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2024
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I struggled with this for decades and ended up noticing a pattern with the food I ate for dinners that were high in glutamates. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter and thus if you are sensitive it will put your brain into overdrive and sleep is just not possible as basically you are drugged. Only effects a small portion of the population but I can tell you, I sleep very well now that I avoid high glutamate foods past 5pm as they tend to not make my mind race until several hours after consumption and once the effect kicks in, it does not wain off until 3-5am which kills my sleep. Avoiding glutamate has been the single biggest quality of life improvement along with focusing on my gut biome which when out of balance can make it harder to fall asleep as believe it or not, out guts make a lot of the neurotransmitters we need to function including melatonin which is the sleep neurotransmitters.
I wish you luck no matter the root cause. Feel free to ask me more about this.
Even though you're right in that glutamate is a neurotransmitter, eating it doesn't affect our brain chemistry at all. It can't pass the blood-brain-barrier. Which is relieving since basically every food group contains it and flooding our brain with that would lead to violent epileptic seizures and certain death. Not insomnia.
And melatonin isn't a neurotransmitter but a hormone.
So maybe you do in fact sleep better when avoiding specific food groups in the evening, but your explanation certainly isn't correct.
Just putting this out there since glutamate is such a highly misunderstood molecule surrounded by many misconceptions, this one being a very common one.
I think the issue is that there are conflicting studies. Some like this one that has found some people to be glutamate sensitive.
https://myacare.com/blog/part-1-glutamate-sensitivity-real-myths-about-glutamate-msg-and-more
You can also find studies that say there is zero effect. Donβt doubt their results as they never tested me because if they did, they would have a different result. Plenty of other studies have also found some to be sensitive to glutamate so downplaying here might lead someone to dismiss my suggestion which is a real shame as there is Zero harm to cut out high glutamate foods for a period and see how sleep goes.
For me, I absolutely assure you that high glutamate foods really make me hyper. Like zero doubt here as I have experimented a lot with this right down to a teaspoon of MSG with non glutamate dinner that I know has no effect on my sleep to end up absolutely wired for 12hrs as if I slammed 5 cans of red bull and more. It is really awful and while you clearly do not have this issue, I kindly request you do more research before sharing as it is not as black and white as you just presented.
No what I'm saying is maybe you are sensitive (for whatever reason - from a exceptional metabolism to placebo, over other sensitivities/allergies, complex psychological effects, etc everything is possible) but it's certainly not because glutamate is a neurotransmitter.
Neurotransmitters and the stuff in our bloodstreams (nutrients, hormones and so on) are two very different systems. Think of it as a river and a power grid. We all have this massive stream of different molecules in our bodies, and we have an elaborate information system made from electric and chemical signaling, like cables and batteries, working right beside it. The batteries might happen to utilize the same molecules that swim around in the river, but they still have nothing to do with each other. The river doesn't touch the batteries, and your body very carefully decides which part it takes out of the water and into the batteries. Highly simplified of course, but that's kinda how you can imagine why one doesn't hurt the other.
If you have vitamin deficiencies, fortified food can also cause you to run at 120%. In some countries (e.g. US) Noodles and flour are fortified with B-vitamins. Maybe that's what you're experiencing? It happened to me a few times.
I should also add that many food additives also can ruin my sleep, although not nearly as much as high glutamate. Red dye no 40 is particularly bad but so are many other additives with names few can pronounce.