5 foods that will help you sleep

Having trouble catching those precious zzzs? Stock up on these 5 foods that will help you sleep!

It’s time to stop putting snooze on your nutrition and wake up to the facts of exactly what you are feeding your body and how it’s affecting your sleep. Poor quality sleep has been scientifically-linked to many severe health concerns, such as high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. We all know how important our diet and regular exercise is to maintaining good health, but being well rested is another piece to the health puzzle!

We hate to break it to you, but downing a liquid breakfast of Starbucks’ strongest isn’t going to improve your tiredness. So it’s time to put down that cuppa and assess your food intake properly for that well-deserved sleep.

First things first, eating too much or too little, especially in the evening, can make your brain unsettled, causing valuable beauty sleep to be at stake. And it’s also true that ‘sleep is the best meditation’. So here’s what you should be scoffing…

A bowl of wholegrain cereal

Stock up on your complex carbs in the evening for that perfect night of sleep. Having good carbs with little added protein will help to soothe that decisive date you made with your head and pillow. This is because complex carbs make tryptophan, which is an amino acid that causes sleepiness, therefore your brain is stimulated to wind down, getting ready for some serene shut-eye.

White jasmine rice

Now this doesn’t mean feast on your local Chinese takeaway right before bed, however, according to a 2007 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, having a small portion of white jasmine rice for dinner can improve your quality of sleep. This type of food is commonly referred to as a high glycaemic index meal, this means more insulin is triggered by the brain, which then boosts the accessibility of tryptophan – causing sleepiness.

Also, researchers have found that when participants ate a carb-rich, high glycaemic index meal, such as jasmine white rice, they fell asleep much faster than those who had a low-glycaemic meal, like long grain rice.

Cherries or cherry juice

These mighty antioxidants are excellent for improving your sleep. How? Well this is all thanks to melatonin, a hormone naturally found in the body that causes tiredness. Try having a handful of cherries or a glass of cherry juice before bed to test out the sleepy benefits.

Fish

Foods that are rich in vitamin B6, such as fish, chicken and pork, help to produce tryptophan. This aids to quicken the process of activating the chemical neurotransmitter serotonin to signal the brain that the body is getting ready to sleep. Omega-3 has also demonstrated it helps to reduce levels of anxiety and depression, leaving your mind better rested, which is the key to a stress-free night’s sleep.

Camomile, peppermint and lavender tea

There are many artificial tea brands on the market right now that all predict a better night of sleep, but the reality is you are probably left tossing and turning as a result of needing the toilet! Be careful when it comes to choosing your tea, as many might include senna leaf, which is a form of laxative. So stick to classic herbal remedies like camomile, peppermint and lavender.