20 Foods to Fight Sleep Disorders

This article discusses 20 foods that can help you sleep and fight sleep disorders.

After a day's work, travelling and crazy sessions at work, all one wants is nothing but a good night's sleep. Everybody wants to be able to sleep like a baby every time they hit the bed. But for many of us patting ourselves to sleep is a Herculean task. Today, we give you the solution to better sleep. No... we aren't giving you names of soothing lullabies but a list of foods that will help you discover your inner Sleeping Beauty! Here are the 20 best foods that will help you fight sleep disorders and get better sleep every night... 

Food for sleep: Legumes 

The high levels of B vitamins in legumes, such as black-eyed peas and lentils, also help calm your nervous system. Legumes can be a great choice for an evening meal because they often replace animal protein, which can cause sleep problems, eat them only in moderation. 

Food for sleep: Warm milk 

Milk has some tryptophan, an amino acid that has a sedative-like effect, and calcium, which helps the brain use tryptophan. 

Food for sleep: Honey 

Drizzle a little in your warm milk or herb tea. Lots of sugar is stimulating, but a little glucose tells your brain to turn off orexin, a recently discovered neurotransmitter that's linked to alertness. 

Food for sleep: Cherries 

Cherries boost the body's supply of melatonin, and they're packed with antioxidants and phytonutrients, that help you get a good night's sleep. 

Food for sleep: Popcorn 

Popcorn helps create the sleep-inducing neurotransmitter serotonin in our brains; it can be helpful in falling asleep. But skip the butter and oil; air-popped is best. 

Food for sleep: Almonds 

Almonds contain magnesium, which promotes both sleep and muscle relaxation. They help promote sleep by switching you from your alert adrenaline cycle to your rest-and-digest cycle 

Food for sleep: Bread 

As a high-glycemic food, bread can definitely help you feel sleepy, especially if you eat it within four hours of going to bed. But avoid it if you're trying to stay slim; it'll pack a rise in blood sugar that could cause weight gain. 

Food for sleep: Flaxseeds 

Try sprinkling 2 tablespoons of these healthy little seeds on your bedtime oatmeal. They're rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a natural mood lifter. 

Food for sleep: Bananas 

Packed with healthy carbohydrates, bananas can help you slow down a little bit. They, too, contain tryptophan, as well as substances that promote the production of melatonin, the hormone that induces sleep and muscle relaxation. 

Food for sleep: Yogurt 

Same as milk, but with more protein to boot, so it's a satisfying snack before bed. Just choose a sugar-free, low-fat variety to avoid weight gain or increase in blood sugar levels. 

Food for sleep: Chickpeas 

Protein and serotonin-boosting vitamin B6 make chickpeas a great choice for a relaxing late-night snack. Keep some chickpea salad in the fridge. 

Food for sleep: Green tea 

Drinking green tea throughout the day can help you feel more calm. It may also help relieve the symptoms of sleep apnea. 

Food for sleep: Oatmeal 

It's rich in calcium and magnesium, and the perfect partner for some bananas, milk and honey, making oatmeal a great choice for night-time breakfasts. 

Food for sleep: Cereal 

Choose a low-sugar fortified cereal as another great late-night snack that will help you drift off to sleep. The complex carbohydrates in many cereals can increase the availability of tryptophan in the bloodstream, and fortified cereals are often a great source of vitamin B6. 

Food for sleep: Potatoes 

The carbohydrates in potatoes make them another high-glycemic food that can help you sleep more peacefully. Try a small serving of mashed potatoes with milk, topped with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt. 

Food for sleep: Dark Chocolate 

It can help you sleep better, too. Compounds in dark chocolate have been found to reduce the production of the hormone cortisol in the brain. Eat it throughout the day to help you feel more relaxed, not right before you go to bed, since it does contain a little bit of caffeine. 

Food for sleep: Saffron 

It has a "mood-improving effect" that could aid in weight loss and help you relax. 

Food for sleep: Soups and stews 

Soups and stews-particularly those filled with fiber-rich veggies and legumes-and low-fat casseroles are much more calming and relaxing than seared meats and hot, spicy foods. 

Food for sleep: Eggs 

High in proteins, eggs help improve your sleep and maintain your fitness levels thereby giving you complete protection. However, in case you suffer from high cholesterol issues, you can opt for eating only the egg white without the yolk.

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Does Turkey Make You Sleepy? False!

Undersleeping, alchol and a full stomach might make you sleep...Turkey wont. JR 

Eat Turkey All You Want! It’s Not Going to Put You to Sleep

by Kent Sepkowitz Nov 22, 2012 4:45 AM EST

That 45-minute nap on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner? That doesn’t have to happen! Kent Sepkowitz explains why the ‘the tryptophan in turkey means sleep’ trope persists, despite multiple debunkings.

Given its limited agenda, Thanksgiving has few myths or stories that surround it. Grandpa doesn’t talk about his first Thanksgiving in the New World; no one discusses the miracle of the one yam that fed 300 people on a mountain somewhere; there are no songs to be sung or heroes to be noted. It’s all business, really—the business of overeating.Indeed, the only myth about Thanksgiving, not counting our averred friendliness toward Native Americans, is an odd one: that the Thanksgiving meal, alone among other pig-out sessions, can make a person sleepy. Yep, not only does Thanksgiving give the green light to overeating, it also signals two thumbs up to those who need to catch a 45-minute nap on the couch right after the meal.

The “turkey means sleep” trope has been with us a while and has been debunked for just about the same duration but is still worth reviewing. The premise is this: turkey is chock-full of a soporific essential amino acid, tryptophan, one of the 22 essential amino acids. These amino acids are “essential” because our body cannot synthesize them; to maintain a blood level, we have to ingest tryptophan daily. So tryptophan at pretty big doses is a routine part of being a human on planet Earth. Despite this relatively stable homeostasis, a dose of turkey is somehow said to be enough to tip the scales of tryptophan toward hypnotic, dream-laden sleep.

To be sure, tryptophan as a white pill, not a slab of white meat, is used by some as a sleeping aid. Few studies, though, demonstrated efficacy, and the medical dose given is way above what even a total slob would choke down at the Thanksgiving table. But this is only one of the many bits of faulty reasoning in the trypto-myth. One of the clearest debunkings of turkeys-‘n’-sleep, from last year, features the comparative tryptophan content of various foods and points out that cheese and ham pack as much trypto-wallop as the big bland bird.

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