Everything we eat and drink affects our health, wellbeing and sleep. Some food types make you sleep, others are energy boosters. We must pay attention to our diet if we are to achieve healthy sleep. It’s not just avoiding a cup of coffee or a heavy evening meal. Here we discover the key links between food and sleep, and the best food types for quality sleep.
It’s highly recommended you look at some tips for better sleep on our blog. This includes setting a sleeping schedule and creating a room ideal for sleeping. Foods are the next step.
Food that helps you sleep
Specialists believe adults need at least 7–9 hours’ uninterrupted sleep to help rejuvenate the body, and promote better mental health and physical wellbeing. The following are the best foods with sleep-promoting properties that help you fall asleep faster and experience better sleep:
- Warm milk. As milk is a source of tryptophan, it can provide the perfect relaxing bedtime drink and improve sleep. But nobody knows what works better – the tryptophan effect or the psychological link between milk and sleep in childhood.
- Kiwi. This food helps you sleep as it consists of serotonin and antioxidants that regulate your sleep cycle. Kiwis are considered a good low-calorie pre-bed snack.
- Almonds. Pay attention to nuts if you try to figure out which foods help you sleep. Almond contains melatonin (a hormone that regulates sleep and wake cycles) and makes your sleep more soundly.
- A cup of caffeine-free tea. Chamomile, motherwort, valerian, ginger and peppermint tea help you become drowsy, reduce insomnia and enhance sleep quality. These teas have many health benefits from boosting the immune system to chronic disease prevention.
- Fish. One of the best foods for sleep is fatty fish. Eating salmon, halibut, mackerel or tuna, you get vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids that produce melatonin and serotonin. Their action entails falling asleep faster and improving sleep quality.
Bananas, cherry juice, yoghurt, cottage cheese, turkey, white rice are also excellent foods to help with sleep.
Nutritionists recommend eating more food that relates directly to serotonin, tryptophan, magnesium, and melatonin, vitamins like B6, B12 and folic acid. These help you wake less and promote deeper, healthier sleep. So dabble with the foods, have them 2-3 hours before bed and discover what helps you sleep better.
