Scientists from the University of California at Berkeley discovered that exercising and eating the right breakfast the day before helps wake up feeling sluggish each morning. The research was published in the journal Nature Communication.
The authors analyzed the behavior of 833 people who wore wristwatches for two weeks to record physical activity and the quantity, quality, and regularity of sleep. They also kept food diaries, recorded their energy levels from when they woke up, and used glucometers to measure their blood sugar levels.
Scientists have discovered that three factors contribute to alertness: exercising the day before, sleeping longer, and eating a breakfast high in complex carbohydrates and limited in sugar.
A large amount of simple carbohydrates at breakfast is associated with a sharp increase in glucose levels and a further decrease – this jump prevents the body from waking up from sleep, causing drowsiness.
According to the author, most people need 7-9 hours of sleep to remove a chemical called adenosine, which accumulates in the body during the day and makes you sleepy at night. Given that most people in the community don’t get enough sleep during the week, getting more sleep on a given day can help clear the adenosine residue.
Scientists don’t yet know how the joy adds to the workout the day before. All these factors acted independently, so it makes sense to include even one of them. Twins (identical and fraternal) were also included in the study to explain the influence of genetic factors. Genetics was responsible for only 25% of the differences between study participants.
The authors added that morning sleepiness has serious social consequences: many car accidents, work accidents, and major disasters are the fault of people who cannot recover from sleepiness.