Foods & Drinks to Help You Sleep Better

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Besides the obvious effect of feeling tired and losing focus the next day, lack of sleep can cause serious damage to your health.

Sleep deprivation is a culprit for a number of chronic health problems, especially cardiovascular diseases.  Lack of sleep also causes weight gain, increases the signs of aging, weakens the immune system and even makes you more sensitive to pain.

Bottom line, adequate and good quality sleep is vital in keeping our bodies and minds healthy.  But sometimes, bedtime can be frustrating.  You know that feeling when everything inside you is dead tired but your mind won’t just let you sleep?

Reaching for sleeping aids may sound like an easy and quick fix but before you pop on a pill, why not go for the natural route first?

In today’s article, let’s talk about the different foods & drinks that can help induce sleep.  Eat any of these a few hours before bedtime, and off you go to dream land.

Bananas

These yellow superfruits contain lots of essential nutrients to help you get a deep night’s sleep – Potassium and Magnesium to help relax overstressed muscles and tryptophan, which provides extra doses of sleep and beat insomnia.

Dairy

Most of us experienced having to drink a warm glass of milk before sleep when we were younger.  Well, it’s true after all.  Dairy contains tryptophan and calcium which produce melatonin, a hormone that helps control sleep and wake cycles.

Poultry

Turkey, chicken and all sorts of poultry are rich in tryptophan, which helps induce sleep, as what I’ve mentioned earlier.

Chickpeas

Aside from being a good source of protein, chickpeas are also rich in Vitamin B6, which helps produce Melatonin.  By the way, chickpeas are the main ingredient in hummus, making it the perfect snack to for a movie marathon before bedtime.

Cherries

Recent studies show that drinking cherry juice promotes better sleeping habits.  Well, that’s because Cherries are high in melatonin.  If you don’t feel like drinking Cherry Juice, just eat a cup of whole cherries as your pre-bedtime snack.

Chamomile Tea

Last on the list is one that I’m sure many of you know about.  Non-caffeinated Chamomile Tea is very effective to induce slumber and has been a herbal remedy for insomnia for thousands of years.