Best 5 Foods To Aid Sleep
Sleep deprived? Check these simple tips on what to eat and what to avoid.
Many of us do not get enough sleep, which can harm our mood, work, and rest the next day.
Sleep is crucial for our health because our bodies repair themselves while we sleep. When we do not get enough sleep, we notice changes in our mood and how we feel physically and emotionally.
Several factors influence our sleep, with stress and hormone balance being two important ones. High stress makes it hard to relax, and unbalanced hormones can affect our overall health.
Lifestyle choices also play a role in sleep, including our diet.
What should you eat?
Some foods can improve your sleep because of their ingredients. Foods like cherries, bananas, seaweed, and kale can help you sleep better. These are the top 5 foods for helping you sleep:
1. Tart cherries
Tart cherries are high in melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate your sleep cycle. Eating them can make you feel sleepier in the evening and help you wake up feeling more energetic.
They also have antioxidants like anthocyanins, which work with melatonin to support deeper sleep for longer.
2. Bananas
Another fruit to try before bed is a banana because they have a lot of magnesium and that helps your muscles relax and calms your mind, both of which are needed for good sleep.
Bananas give your body vitamin B6, which changes the amino acid tryptophan into melatonin to help you sleep more deeply.
3. Sardines
Like salmon and tuna, sardines give you 61 percent of the essential Omega-3 you need each day.
Sardines are a good choice for an evening meal, and they will help you sleep well because they lower stress, which is a major cause of the nighttime worries and stress that can stop sleep.
4. Seaweed
If you don’t like eating fish, or if you are vegetarian or vegan, you can also try seaweed, which is a good choice instead of fatty fish.
It will also give you the important nutrients for sleep, including omega-3s, the amino acid tryptophan, and magnesium.
5. Kale
Kale is often thought of as a healthy food, especially if you want to lose weight, but it can also help you sleep.
Vegetables like kale and spinach are not only rich in calcium but also help make melatonin.
Because it has a lot of fibre, it will also help stop you from craving food in the middle of the night.
What should you avoid?
You may be eating the five best foods for sleep, but if you are also doing things that hurt your sleep, it won’t help.
1. Coffee
You may know that drinking coffee in the afternoon can harm your sleep, but you might not realise that even decaf coffee can affect your rest.
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Learn MoreDecaf coffee still has some caffeine so if you are sensitive to it then even a small amount can keep you awake.
Instead of coffee, try herbal tea as there are many blends that include relaxing ingredients to help you prepare for bed.
You can also consider herbal supplements like Wellsprings Sleep Capsules, which contain L-Tryptophan, magnesium, lemon balm, and L-Theanine.
It is a popular belief that a glass of red wine will help you relax because it acts as a sedative and helps to make us feel relaxed.
Unfortunately this is just not true, it is not a sedative and it will only limit your REM sleep and cause you to wake up later in the night.
If you enjoy a glass of red, try and have it with your dinner and at least one hour before you go to bed.
This will give the alcohol a chance to process in your body before you try to sleep.
3. Dark chocolate
Pleasurable although this is, and high on my list for a treat, unfortunately if you want a good nights sleep you need to avoid this at night.
Because it is rich in caffeine, it has as much as 25 per cent of a standard cup of coffee, and combined with it’s sugar content it won’t help you sleep.
It does have a health benefit, in that it contains magnesium, so best to have it in the morning or afternoon.
4. Cheese
I was always told by my mother that cheese gave you bad dreams, which I thought was an old wives tale, and indeed it is often a last course for dinner.
However, it seems that my mother was right as research shows that cheese is a major contributor to strange and restless dreams.
Researchers believe this is due to the effect of cheese on mood and cognition.
Spicy Foods
I love spicy foods like curries, but ingredients such as chilli peppers and mustard can raise your body temperature and make it hard to sleep.
Many women going through menopause experience night sweats, so if you enjoy spicy food, try to eat it earlier in the day, like at lunchtime.
Helpful information:
Unfortunately, many women have trouble sleeping during menopause due to hot flushes, sweats at night, or increased anxiety and stress.
First, it’s important to manage your hormones and ensure you have good progesterone levels as that is the hormone that is a natural relaxant to help you sleep.
If you have symptoms of oestrogen dominance then that can affect your sleep as well so make sure your hormones are well balanced.
Handling stress is also important because it can affect many areas of your life, both physical and emotional, and changes in menopause symptoms can impact your sleep.
If you do experience a bad night’s sleep, this article can help you recover.
https://blog.wellsprings-health.com/how-to-help-yourself-after-a-bad-nights-sleep/
