For those of you who struggle to fall asleep naturally, try looking at your dietary habits during the day and before bed to see if certain foods and drinks are keeping you up all hours. Eating a heavy rich meal before bed can lead to a disturbed restless night and it’s a no brainer to avoid energy-boosting coffee and red bull before you try to turn in. But there are also foods that have a soporific effect and can help improve the quality and amount of your sleep.
Having a light snack of ingredients containing tryptophan (a relaxing brain chemical), and certain minerals like calcium, magnesium, and potassium (which have a calming effect) can help to make you sleepy. Also, when you combine tryptophan-rich foods with whole grain carbohydrate snacks, the insulin released because of the carbs helps to carry the tryptophan across the blood brain barrier.
So if you are looking for some good quality shut-eye try light snacks containing some of the following foods: Bananas, dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese), oats, cereals, whole grain bread, lettuce, cucumber, almonds, turkey, chicken, kiwi, walnuts, milk, chickpeas, salmon, tart cherries, kale and sweet potatoes.
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