10 Foods That Will Help You Sleep Better-#8 Is My Favorite
If you’ve ever laid in your bed for hours on end wondering why you aren’t asleep yet, I feel your frustration. I can’t tell you how many times I've gotten into my bed and wondered why I couldn’t drift off into dreamland even though it’s all I've thought about all day. After a few hours on the computer, I found 10 foods that can actually help you fall asleep and stay asleep longer, and they’re pretty yummy.
Table Of Contents
#1: Eat Those Naners
Bananas are a wonderful bedtime food, and here’s why. Bananas are high in potassium and potassium can help to calm restless legs and prevent cramps while you’re in bed. Not only that, but bananas also provide your body with magnesium. This helps to promote healthy circulation and digestion, it also relaxes the muscles. You can either eat it plain or toss it in a smoothie with some peanut butter.
#2: Maybe Some Kale!
If you aren’t really into the kale scene, but can’t seem to fall asleep, you may want to get accustomed to it. Kale is high in potassium, much like those bananas, it is also high in calcium. Both of these have properties that help to induce sleep. If you just can’t choke down plain kale, try it as part of your dinner in a salad, or even make some kale chips!
#3: Heavy On The Almond, Light On The Joy
One of my favorite candy bars is an Almond Joy, but if you take out the chocolate & coconut and leave the Almonds, you have yourself a pretty healthy snack. Almonds are chocked full of magnesium and protein. The magnesium helps to ease you into a better night’s sleep and the protein can help stabilize your blood sugar while you are sleeping. Not a fan of plain almonds? No worries, make an almon?d smoothie for a dessert that’s healthy before bed.
#4: 1 Egg, 2 Eggs, 3 Eggs, Snore
Eggs as a late night snack may not be ideal, but it could be the answer to your sleep issues. Eggs are high in protein which helps to stabilize your blood sugar, resulting in a better sleep. To make this even more effective, add some whole-grain toast. The toast has carbs which allows the the tryptophan that’s in the protein to be available more readily. Tryptophan is what makes your body produce serotonin, a natural stress buster, and we all know that if we’re stressed, we don’t sleep. So, if you want to sleep even better, slap a fried egg on a piece of whole-grain toast and enjoy those Z’s.
#5: Oatmeal As Brinner
If you aren’t familiar with the term “brinner”, it’s short for “breakfast for dinner”. And what better brinner than some oatmeal? The thing with oatmeal is that it is packed with calcium, potassium, and magnesium. All of these combined have been known to help people fall asleep quicker. Also, if you are lacking magnesium to begin with, it can make it more difficult to stay asleep.
#6: Gimme The Chickpeas Please
Chickpeas are a good source of Vitamin B-6, which is what your body utilizes to make serotonin. The serotonin is a natural mood elevator and stress eliminator. B-6 is also helps synthesize melatonin, which is the hormone your body uses to sleep. So, eating chickpeas with dinner can help to promote better sleep later on.
#7: Sweet Taters Make Sleep Better
Sweet potatoes have loads of potassium which helps to relax your achy muscles and calm your nerves. Not only that, but it also aids in digestion. With relaxed muscles and calmed nerves, you are more likely to fall asleep quicker and stay asleep longer. If you don’t like sweet potatoes plain, you can bake them as fries or mash them.
#8: Jasmine Rice, Oh So Nice
Jasmine rice is a huge hit in my house. The reason for this is because when we seem like we are going to have a rough night sleeping, I cook some up and use it’s sleep aid properties to my advantage. Those who eat jasmine rice tend to fall asleep quicker due to its high glycemic index. This is said to increase the ratio of tryptophan due to the higher insulin levels the rice contains. If you don’t like plain rice, try it as a meal mixed with lime and coconut, it’s pretty amazing.
#9: Salmon For Sleep
Fish is extremely healthy for your body, especially halibut, tuna, and salmon. These fish are high in Vitamin B-6, which is needed to produce melatonin. The melatonin is a sleep inducing chemical that is triggered by darkness. So, if you’re feeling like you need a good night of sleep, make a fish dish for dinner, such as honey glazed salmon if you aren’t a fan of plain grilled fish.
#10: Fortified Cereals Make Ideal Meals
Cereal is actually quite healthy for you because it contains great amounts of Vitamin B-6, as with most of the other items on the list. These fortified cereals give you the proper vitamins needed to produce ideal levels of melatonin. In turn, this will have you falling asleep faster and staying asleep longer.
When you are feeling like you may be incapable of getting a restful night of sleep, remember this list. They are all wonderful foods that can help you with your sleep problems, whether it’s a snack or a full dinner meal. If you enjoyed this list or have any recipes of your own that help you sleep, leave us a comment.
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