What Happens To Your Sleep When You Drink Bone Broth Before Bed

If you follow the Bone Broth Diet, you're probably familiar with bone broth's health benefits. Bone broth is made by simmering roasted leftover bones in a pot of water for at least 24 hours to extract nutrients such as collagen and electrolytes from the bones. Kettle & Fire's Beef Bone Broth (sold on Amazon) has just 29 calories per cup with 7 grams of protein.

One particular amino acid in bone broth might help you sleep. Glycine is a nonessential amino acid and neurotransmitter that your body can produce. According to the Sleep Doctor, you can improve your sleep by taking 3 to 5 grams of a glycine supplement before bed. Or you can choose a cup of bone broth.

Beef bone broth has 888 milligrams of glycine in a one-cup (240 grams) serving (per a 2017 analysis in the Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry Research). You might not want to down several cups of bone broth before bed, but a cup of bone broth before bed could supplement your bedtime ritual to improve sleep.

Glycine serves two functions in your brain, according to a 2014 article in Neuropsychopharmacology. It helps to relax your muscles during sleep, but it also plays a role in memory and learning. High doses of glycine (60 grams a day) help to improve cognition and can treat some symptoms of schizophrenia. You don't need that much glycine to improve sleep. Three grams of glycine can enhance the quality of your sleep and ease insomnia. Glycine also helps to reduce your core temperature to help you enter deep sleep a little more quickly.

Glycine from bone broth has other health benefits. In a 2017 review in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, glycine might improve your liver health by reducing the toxic effects of alcohol. It also reduces inflammation, prevents free radical damage, and helps the liver break down alcohol. Supplementing with glycine might protect your body against gastrointestinal disorders, and glycine's anti-inflammatory properties might ease arthritis.

The Bone Broth Diet will have you consuming a ton of bone broth. On your eating days, you'll have up to three cups of bone broth, and you'll consume up to six cups on your fasting days. Drinking bone broth every day can help keep you hydrated while also providing collagen protein to build strong muscles and bones. Be careful not to overdo it. Bone broth might be contaminated with lead that's stored in an animal's bones, and too much lead can result in kidney issues, high blood pressure, and neurocognitive issues. If homemade bone broth isn't prepared and stored properly, it could be at risk for bacterial contamination.

If you get your glycine by eating bone broth, you might not experience any side effects. Taking 3 to 5 grams of glycine to help you sleep might cause side effects like nausea, vomiting, or softer poop. People taking clozapine for schizophrenia should avoid glycine supplements because glycine will make clozapine less effective.