Do you dread going to bed at night, anticipating eight hours of tossing and turning? Your mind running through tomorrow’s to-do list and worrying about that comment your best friend made last week about your hair. Should you cut it
Jokes aside, not being able to get enough shuteye can make you tired and moody the next day. It can also affect your health.
So what’s behind your lack of sleep?
Well, it could be any number of things. One of those could be as a result of a compound produced in your body and found in food… It’s called histamine.
You’re right if you jump straight into thinking histamine is responsible for symptoms such as itchy eyes and a runny nose. And you might feel surprised to learn that it is also involved in your sleep-wake cycle.
Today, I’m going to explain that link to you. And more importantly, what you can do to ensure a restful shuteye every night.
But first, let’s recap histamine’s role in the body…
What is Histamine?
Histamine is a biologically active molecule, naturally produced by mast cells in your body and also found in certain foods. It is a soldier in the army that is your immune system—helping it to be ready to fight off potential threats that may cause damage to any of your tissues (1).
This clever little molecule also has several other functions, depending on which histamine receptor it binds to. There are extensive histamine receptors located throughout the body, and depicted H1, H2, H3, or H4. So, it’s clear why histamine can do so much, and is involved in everything from immune responses to digestion, as well brain function, by helping to pass messages between nerve cells.
Your body has a built-in histamine control mechanism, breaking it down once it has done whichever job it was called on to do. Enzymes such as diamine oxidase (DAO) and histamine-N-methyltransferase (HNMT) are key factors, preventing a buildup of histamine in your system.
If these mechanisms aren’t functioning correctly, histamine levels increase. And that’s not a good thing.
Histamine Intolerance: An Overview
What happens when histamine isn’t degraded and accumulates in your body?
When histamine levels rise, it continues to do its job, even though it’s no longer required to do so. It continues to trigger allergic reactions, but now those responses appear to be to seemingly random foods, drinks, and other molecules you encounter every day. Even those not deemed threatening or harmful to the body.
This is called histamine intolerance (2).
The exact cause of histamine intolerance is still being investigated. But research suggests the DAO deficiency is a key contributor, along with genetic factors, some diseases, and certain medications.
Most commonly, the condition is as a result of too little DAO and HNMT enzymes being produced. So, instead of histamine only being around when it is needed, it hangs around for longer, causing trouble, much like a party guest that overstays their welcome!
When people whose bodies manage histamine effectively are exposed to higher than typical histamine levels due to a sudden exposure to an allergen, they’ll get the occasional runny nose and itchy eyes, which disappear almost as quickly as the symptoms were brought on. For those with histamine intolerance, elevated histamine levels mean more intense histamine reactions. They’ll experience a wide range of troublesome symptoms, often becoming chronic and unrelenting due to the continuous action of histamine and its associated inflammatory molecules acting on all tissues of the body.
Histamine intolerance symptoms affect all body systems, with the most common ones including:
- Intestinal: Bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and abdominal discomfort.
- Respiratory: Feeling short of breath, runny nose, sneezing, and congestion.
- Cardiovascular: Irregular heart rate, high blood pressure, and low blood pressure.
- Nervous system: Headaches and migraines.
- Skin: Itching, flushing, hives, rash, and swelling.
Yet another body system that has been identified as being troubled by increased histamine levels is the one involved in maintaining your sleep-wake cycle.
The Histamine-Sleep Connection
Now, let’s address the burning question: Does histamine keep you awake?
The short answer is: Yes! It can.
To elaborate, histamine plays a role in regulating your circadian rhythm—your built-in 24-hour clock that controls several cyclical processes in your body, including your sleep-wake cycle (3).
It turns out, histamine is actually one of the key neurotransmitters promoting wakefulness. During the day, levels in the brain naturally rise, helping you stay alert and focused. As night falls, the levels should drop, allowing you to feel drowsy and to fall asleep.
However, when you have histamine intolerance due to the natural histamine-controlling mechanisms being faulty, it can interfere with this cycle. Apart from all the other pesky symptoms you’re left with, histamine can also lead to:
- Difficulty falling asleep.
- Frequently waking up during the night.
- Restless, non-restorative sleep.
- Daytime fatigue due to poor sleep quality.
Compounding the problem is the natural increase in histamine as your body prepares you to wake up in the morning. Even though you have higher histamine overall, your body doesn’t turn this natural histamine production off. So your histamine levels rise even higher in the early hours of the morning, often triggering a histamine attack.
You may think that taking antihistamines—substances that block the effects of histamine—can help, because some of them make you drowsy. In fact, drowsiness is a common side effect of many histamine blockers simply because they’re not allowing histamine to do what it should, essentially blocking its ability to keep you awake and alert. It’s for this reason some people use them as a sleep aid (4).
If you have histamine intolerance, however, these drugs are not enough. And the truth is, taking antihistamine can be a band-aid solution when you should rather be looking at the root cause of the problem. Other strategies for controlling
histamine levels offer greater benefits for long term relief.
5 Strategies for Managing Histamine Levels for Better Sleep
Now you know elevated histamine levels can, indeed, affect your sleep, making it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up refreshed the next morning. Fortunately, if histamine is responsible for your sleep difficulties, there are some steps you can take to control histamine and catch some much needed restful zzz’s.
1. Follow a low-histamine diet
The first step towards lower histamine levels is to change your diet. Some foods are naturally high in histamine and others can trigger the release of histamine in the gut, both increasing levels in your body.
When you avoid these foods, you naturally reduce the amount of histamine in your system, improving your symptoms, and promoting better sleep.
Some of the foods to avoid include:
- Fermented foods such as aged cheese, yogurt, and fermented vegetables like kimchi and sauerkraut.
- Cured and processed meats including canned and smoked meats and fish.
- All shellfish.
- Certain vegetables like eggplant, spinach, avocados, and tomatoes.
- Some fruits such as citrus, pineapple, strawberry, and banana.
For a more extensive list of foods to eliminate and those you can still enjoy, download our free Low-Histamine Diet Guide here:
2. Improve gut health
One of the most critical aspects contributing to histamine intolerance is poor gut health and an imbalance in the gut microbiome—the colonies of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes living in your digestive tract (5).
When beneficial bacteria flourish, they force out the harmful bacteria, some of which are histamine producing. In eliminating these histamine-producing bacteria, you’re not only lowering your overall burden of histamine, but decreasing the need for higher levels of DAO.
Additionally, since a large percentage of your immune system resides in the gut, largely mediated by these beneficial bacteria, a healthy gut means a more robust immune system. And when your immune cells function better, histamine is only released when it is truly needed, and you suffer from fewer allergic and other histamine-related reactions.
So, how do you improve gut health? First, by eating mostly fresh, whole, high-fiber foods. And second, by taking a low-histamine probiotic supplement.
3. Lifestyle changes
Stress management, regular exercise, and good sleep hygiene go a long way towards lowering histamine levels and improving your sleep.
Activities like yoga and meditation, as well as journaling and mindfulness can help calm your mind, reducing your stress. Exercise can also help, but it’s best not to overexert yourself when you’re trying to control histamine levels. High intensity exercise can make it worse.
Sleep hygiene is an important consideration for anyone battling to get enough good quality sleep. It involves going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, following a relaxing bedtime routine, and avoiding screens an hour before going to sleep (6).
4. Supplements
Despite all the positive diet and lifestyle changes, your body might need a little extra help. Supplements can give you the boost you need to support missing nutrients and enzymes, thereby reducing the symptoms you develop and speeding up your recovery.
Natural antihistamines compounds can go a long way to help you to control the levels of histamine in the body. They include quercetin and vitamin C, both found in one of my favorite histamine intolerance formulas, called Anti-Hist. Diamine oxidase (DAO) enzyme supplements can also be useful when taken before eating to help your body to break down any histamine the meal may contain (7).
5. Medications
In some cases, your healthcare provider might recommend antihistamine medication or mast cell stabilizers to help manage histamine levels (8). While they’re not going to help to address the root cause of your histamine intolerance, they may provide much needed support to manage your symptoms.
Remember, histamine intolerance affects people differently. Any or all of these 5 strategies may help you to manage your body’s histamine levels. But, i you struggle with sleep issues and suspect histamine may be the root of the problem,
consult with a healthcare professional for personalized advice.
Histamine Might be Keeping You Awake
In summary, for some people, especially those with histamine intolerance, histamine might be the reason you lie awake at night, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
Understanding the connection between histamine and sleep enables you to take steps towards managing your histamine levels and potentially improving your sleep quality.
If you’ve been battling with sleep issues, considering the role of histamine might just be the key to unlocking better, more restful nights. Sweet dreams!
References
- What Is Histamine? Cleveland Clinic. 2023.
- Jochum C. Histamine Intolerance: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Beyond. Nutrients. 2024 Apr 19;(8):1219.
- Pham L, Baiocchi L, Kennedy L, Sato K, Meadows V, Meng F, et al. The interplay between mast cells, pineal gland, and circadian rhythm: Links between histamine, melatonin, and inflammatory mediators. Journal of Pineal Research. 2020 Nov 29;(2).
- Sleep aids: Could antihistamines help me sleep? - Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic. 2023.
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Duelo A, Veciana-Nogués MT, Berlanga M, Latorre-Moratalla ML, et al. Intestinal Dysbiosis in Patients with Histamine Intolerance. Nutrients. 2022 Apr 23;(9):1774.
- About Sleep. Sleep. CDC. Sleep.
- Schnedl WJ, Schenk M, Lackner S, Enko D, Mangge H, Forster F. Diamine oxidase supplementation improves symptoms in patients with histamine intolerance. Food Science and Biotechnology. 2019 May 24;(6):1779–84.
- Cao M, Gao Y. Mast cell stabilizers: from pathogenic roles to targeting therapies. Frontiers in Immunology. 2024 Aug 1.
Anita Tee
My name is Anita Tee. I'm a nutritional scientist specializing in histamine intolerance. I hold a Master of Science in Personalized Nutrition and a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and Psychology.
For the past ten years, I have used my experience in nutritional and medical health sciences to create a scientifically backed, natural approach to healthcare that relies 100% on evidence-based research.
As I previously suffered from - and overcame - histamine intolerance, my focus is to increase recognition and expand the available resources and protocols for resolving the disorder. To date, I have helped over 4,000 individuals fully resolve or better manage their histamine intolerance symptoms.
