The GI represents the total rise in blood sugar level following the consumption of a food. The general consensus is that foods with a high glycemic index (GI) aren’t the healthiest. While eating loads of pizza probably won’t get you in the best shape of your life, snatching a slice right before bed might actually send you right to your dreams. ![]() Eat a banana and feel the relaxation flow through you. We’ve seen that magnesium and potassium, in particular, are responsible for the relaxation of a muscle.Īpart from being sleepy in your head, it’s equally important for your body to relax. Bananas are full of useful electrolytes, namely potassium and magnesium.Īs I’ve described before in the article about muscle cramps, a specific set of minerals are very important to our muscle function: electrolytes. Bananasīananas are good for inducing sleep, but not because it affects the production of certain neurotransmitters or hormones. Of course I don’t have to tell you you shouldn’t go for a coffee before nap time. Chocolate milk contains high levels of xanthines, the mother of stimulants like caffeine. Traditionally hot chocolate is a bedtime drink too, but it doesn’t work as well as milk. Just imagine sitting near a fireplace or crawling under your blanket: the warmth will make you drowsy and eventually fall asleep. We associate warmth at the end of the day with sleep. The reason warm milk is so good for falling asleep, is because it’s warm. The reason why warm milk helps falling asleep doesn’t even have anything to do with the biochemical processes in our body! While milk does contain the same tryptophan that is essential for the synthesis of melatonin, it comes in such small doses it will not have any noticeable effect on falling asleep. What our mothers told us was no lie! A glass of warm milk will actually make you sleep better. If tryptophan and serotonin were the fuel of our sleep-engine, eating a bag of pistachio nuts would be an oil change. Animal foods contain the less stable pyridoxal and pyridoxamine. Plant foods lose the least vitamin B6 in these processes, because they contain the most stable form of vitamin B6: pyridoxine. The reason why pistachio nuts are my first pick is because up to 50% of vitamin B6 is lost through cooking and storage. The vitamin is present in many more foods, such as meats or fish. Pistachio NutsĪpart from being delicious, pistachio nuts are a very good source of vitamin B6. And by now we know what melatonin is good for: a snug and a solid night of sleep. Another process converts the same serotonin to melatonin. Through an enzymatic process tryptophan is converted into the neurotransmitter serotonin. Apart from being a protein building block, tryptophan is closely involved in human sleep. As you might expect, an essential amino acid cannot be synthesised by the body and therefore must be part of a healthy diet. In nearly all lean proteins, such as fish, chicken, turkey and red meat, the essential amino acid tryptophan is present. ![]() Although not as extreme as I described in the article about food coma’s, turkey and other lean protein can actually help you getting to sleep. There is some truth to the Thanksgiving myth that turkey will make you sleepy. It turns out, that ingesting additional melatonin can even fix disruptions of your biological clock, such as insomnia or a jet lag. On the other hand in night active animals it actually promotes activity, thus gathering its nickname ‘The Hormone Of Darkness’.Īs you can imagine the melatonin our body produces is responsible for how our biological clock runs. In day-active animals and humans melatonin promotes sleep. Production is triggered by a lack of light: at dusk and at night. Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland in the centre of the brain. Cherries are a great source of naturally occurring melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate your day and night cycle. ![]() The most straightforward way to induce sleepiness is to eat cherries. I’m listing the 7 best foods for a good night’s sleep, and we’ll get to the bottom of why they make us sleepy: 1. ![]() Who knew that pizza can increase your chances of plummeting into a deep sleep as soon as you hit the pillow? Enough reason for me to investigate further. I think we can all attest to the fact that some foods seem like a no-go right before bed, and some seem to work wonders. Whenever I just couldn’t sleep, a glass of warm milk has been my mom’s secret weapon for my entire youth. 7 Foods that will help you sleep like a baby
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