Sleep Promoting Diets
Stress, too much alcohol and various other factors can prevent you from sleeping well at night. Your diet may also be the culprit. However, there are foods you can eat that promote sleep.
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Carbohydrate Foods
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High-carbohydrate, yet light food, helps you snooze. Carbohydrates enhance the brain's sleep chemical, serotonin, but they don't overload your digestive system. Examples of high carbohydrate foods include a small piece of angel food cake topped with berries; a raisin bagel coated with honey or a whole wheat English muffin. You can eat a few pretzels or a baked potato or 1/2 cup of pasta with sauce.
Trytophan
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Drinking chamomile tea, valerian tea or lemon balm tea will help you sleep. Drinking warm milk does the same thing, according to UCdailynews.com. Milk contains the amino acid tryptophan, which is comparable to taking a sedative. Almonds also contain tryptophan and can promote sleep. The tryptophan found in turkey supposedly promotes sleep; however, Elizabeth Somer, RD, and author of "The Food and Mood Cookbook: Recipes for Eating Well and Feeling Your Best," says that there really isn't enough tryptophan in turkey to zonk you out.
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Bananas and Other Sleep Inducers
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Eat a banana. Bananas consist of serotonin and melatonin, both of which make you sleepy. Put some honey into warm milk or chamomile tea and drink up. The bit of glucose found in the honey tells your brain to quit producing the neurotransmitter orexin that makes you alert.
Oatmeal, Potatoes and Flaxseeds
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Eat some oatmeal, advises Care2.com. Oats contain melatonin. When you eat potatoes you are getting rid of the acids that interfere with tryptophan production. Eating some flaxseeds, with are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, to lessen depression and help you feel better; when you are depressed, it's hard to sleep.
Meals
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Choose a sleep-inducing meal for supper. Choose between scrambled eggs and cheese; seafood, cottage cheese and pasta; tofu stir fry; pasta with parmesan cheese and a tuna sandwich. Chili with beans can make you sleepy, too, if it's not too spicy.
When to Eat
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Carbohydrate foods have higher glycemic rankings when they break down quickly during digestion. This type of food helps you fall asleep twice as fast. Eat the food within four hours of retiring, which gives the brain chemicals serotonin and tryptophan time to release.
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References
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