Five (5) Foods That Help You Sleep

Should you let yourself have that midnight snack if you’re having trouble sleeping and you think hunger might be part of the problem? Here are five foods that can actually help you drift off:

Cherries
Fresh and dried cherries are one of the only natural food sources of melatonin, the chemical that controls the body’s internal clock to regulate sleep. Researchers who tested tart cherries and found high levels of melatonin recommend eating them an hour before bedtime or before a trip when you want to sleep on the plane.

Bananas
Potassium and magnesium are natural muscle relaxants, and bananas are a good source of both. They also contain the amino acid L-tryptophan, which gets converted to 5-HTP in the brain. The 5-HTP in turn is converted to serotonin (a relaxing neurotransmitter) and melatonin.

Toast
Carbohydrate-rich foods trigger insulin production, which induces sleep. Bring on sleepiness by speeding up the release of tryptophan and serotonin, two brain chemicals that relax you and send you to sleep.

Oatmeal
Like toast, a bowl of oatmeal will trigger insulin production, raising blood sugar naturally and making you feel sleepy. Oats are also rich in melatonin, which many people take as a sleep aid.

Warm milk
Like bananas, milk contains the amino acid L-tryptophan, which turns to 5-HTP and releases relaxing serotonin. It’s also high in calcium, which promotes sleep.

Cheers!

Great information.  I fall asleep real easy at night time, but I tend to wake up either in the middle of the night or the early morning.  I will try your suggestions.  Thank you.

StayHealthy - 27 October 2009 12:11 AM

Should you let yourself have that midnight snack if you’re having trouble sleeping and you think hunger might be part of the problem? Here are five foods that can actually help you drift off:

Cherries
Fresh and dried cherries are one of the only natural food sources of melatonin, the chemical that controls the body’s internal clock to regulate sleep. Researchers who tested tart cherries and found high levels of melatonin recommend eating them an hour before bedtime or before a trip when you want to sleep on the plane.

Bananas
Potassium and magnesium are natural muscle relaxants, and bananas are a good source of both. They also contain the amino acid L-tryptophan, which gets converted to 5-HTP in the brain. The 5-HTP in turn is converted to serotonin (a relaxing neurotransmitter) and melatonin.

Toast
Carbohydrate-rich foods trigger insulin production, which induces sleep. Bring on sleepiness by speeding up the release of tryptophan and serotonin, two brain chemicals that relax you and send you to sleep.

Oatmeal
Like toast, a bowl of oatmeal will trigger insulin production, raising blood sugar naturally and making you feel sleepy. Oats are also rich in melatonin, which many people take as a sleep aid.

Warm milk
Like bananas, milk contains the amino acid L-tryptophan, which turns to 5-HTP and releases relaxing serotonin. It’s also high in calcium, which promotes sleep.

Cheers!

Hi Stayhealthy,

Interesting. Makes me wonder if oatmeal for breakfast would contribute to feeling sleepy later in the day. I don’t think so because I eat it often for breakfast. Bananas are also a carb rich fruit. Where did you get this information? It’s good stuff.

Donna

Hi Donna,

I wanted to post the links of the article but I don’t think I can post links yet. Well, anyway here it is. Just remove it if it violates forum rules.

http://www.caring.com/articles/five-foods-help-sleep

Thanks for that Stayhealthy,

That link would be find to include as a source. Do you have buttons above your text box such as <b> quote, etc.? As you can see that tag will bold the text. To include a link, highlight the text where you want to add the link and then click on the <a> button. A little window will pop up and let you past the url into the box. You’ll have to click it a few times, but it does add the link to your post.

Let me know if you have any questions.

One other thing to watch for though is whether or not you have permission to copy the article. If it is copyrighted and you don’t own the rights then I think 100 words is the most you can use.

Donna