Sleep-friendly foods

Posted on April 20, 2008 in Latest News

Eating sleep friendly foods is an essential part of your sleep hygiene. Sleep friendly foods help you relax and fall asleep. If you are a chronic insomniac, you should look beyond your sleeping pills to get a good night’s sleep. Maintaining sleep hygiene is also a good way to beat insomnia. You need to simply avoid sleep unfriendly foods and switch to sleep friendly foods –
Foods like tuna, halibut, pumpkin, artichokes, avocados, almonds, eggs, bok choy, peaches, walnuts, apricots, oats, asparagus, potatoes, buckwheat, and bananas contain vitamins, minerals, fats and proteins in abundance. These things are necessary for the proper functioning of our body systems. Important nutrients include calcium, magnesium, selenium, zinc, omega fatty acids, amino acids to build proteins, vitamins C, E, and B-complex, and iron promote sleep.
If you feel the need for a bed time snack, get your self a warm glass of milk. Research has shown that dairy products have shown to help decrease the time it takes to fall asleep.
Tryptophan is absorbed best when eaten with carbohydrates and without other proteins in the stomach. Turkey, chicken, pork, and cheese have a good dose of tryptophan. Tryptophan is a building block of serotonin, which has been shown to have a calming effect on the brain and help regulate sleep.
Herbal supplements like valerian, german chamomile, kava kava also promote sleep.

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