Sleep is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle that can help you to stay fit. Moreover, whether you are following a weight loss or muscle gain fitness regime, you need a good night’s sleep. However, many of us toss and turn at night for a long time before finally falling asleep.
Consequently, we wake in the morning feeling stressed and have a lack of energy. To improve their sleeping pattern and quality, people tried numerous methods. But have you ever consider about food.
What food or fruit you eat before bed plays a crucial role in your quality of sleep. Therefore, in this article, we will explain the food to eat before bed for quality sleep.
Food to Eat Before Bed
Foods and fruits that help produce sleep-inducing hormones like serotonin and melatonin are recommended to eat before bed. Let’s have a look at the food to eat before bed for better sleep.
1: Banana:
Banana is an excellent source of magnesium and potassium. Consequently, when you eat a banana before bed, it helps to relax your muscles, thus putting your body into a sleep state. According to one study, magnesium is found useful for insomnia patients and improves older people’s quality of sleep.
In addition to magnesium and potassium, banana also contains tryptophan, known as precursor sleep-regulating hormones serotonin and melatonin. Therefore, grab a banana at night as a snack to satisfy your hunger and ensure a good night’s sleep.
2: Fatty Fish:
Another excellent food to eat during nighttime is fish. Fish is a good source of vitamin B6 and Omega 3s, which is famous for regulating sleep. Besides, it also improves your sleep quality so you can wake up fresh in the morning.
Also, vitamin B6 activates the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin; therefore, relaxing your body and helping you fall asleep fast. Sardines, salmon, and herrings are great to eat at dinner. You can also eat fish oil supplements to gain these benefits.
3: Chamomile Tea:
It is a general misconception that drinking tea at night will disturb your sleep patterns. However, the truth is just its opposite. Tea like chamomile tea is a perfect way to meow out a stressful day and fall asleep fast. For centuries people are using chamomile tea to fight anxiety and help an upset stomach.
However, apart from this, it is also an excellent sleep inducer. To gain its benefits, turn off the TV or any smart device, and enjoy your tea in the dim light while listening to soft music. It will have a calming effect on your body. Apart from chamomile tea, you can also try other herbal teas like hop tea or valerian tea.
4: Almond:
Not only almonds but other nuts like walnuts, peanuts or cashew are rich in magnesium. As a result of which they have muscle-relaxing properties and thus consider as one of the best food that helps you sleep. Moreover, almonds are also high in calcium.
Consequently, calcium induces the brain to produce serotonin and melatonin sleep-regulating hormones. All these foods have common is the presence of tryptophan, which helps you fall asleep.
5: Milk:
Many people have a habit of drinking milk before sleep. Because they find it easier to fall asleep fast after drinking milk. Why? Because milk is loaded with tryptophan, an amino acid, thus inducing sleep in you.
Milk helps to calm your calm and therefore acts as a wonderful snooze-booster. So, make it a habit to drink a cup of warm milk before bed to improve your sleep quality.
6: Turkey:
Turkey is another famous source of tryptophan. Therefore, it makes a delicious dinner, but it is also helpful in making you fall asleep. All of us agreed on the powerful sleep-inducing effects of tryptophan, a fantastic amino acid.
Results of the research show that only ¼ grams of turkey or chicken drumsticks are enough to improve hours of deep sleep. For better results, pair your source of tryptophan (turkey) with some carbohydrate-rich food like rice. Carbohydrate-rich food is also rich in magnesium, thus helping with sleep.
7: Cherry Juice:
A good night’s sleep is a necessary element if you want to stay fit, healthy, and active. If you lack a good eye shut, add cherries in your routine, especially at night. You can either eat cherries or drink cherries juice to induce sleep. Numerous researches show that adding tart cherries juice can significantly improve your sleep pattern.
Cherries are rich in melatonin, helping you sleep longer, therefore acting as a natural sleep aid. Therefore, replace your dessert with a cup of cherries to stay in shape and sleep longer.
8: Chickpeas:
Another excellent food in our bucket list that helps you to fall asleep is chickpeas. They are rich in vitamin B6 and tryptophan and therefore produces serotonin and melatonin in the body.
If your body is deprived of vitamin B6, it results in a disrupted sleep cycle. Therefore, add chickpeas in your diet. You can eat them by adding in a salad or by cooking them as a side dish or even as humus.
Should I Drink Coffee Before Bed
When it comes to coffee or caffeine, people have a consensus that it is bad for your sleep. As it has stimulant qualities, it can let you awake for a long time, due to which people usually recommend avoiding its use before bed.
However, according to the result of recent researches drinking coffee before bed doesn’t have any impact on how long you take to sleep, how long you sleep, or whether you woke up during the night or not.
But besides all these different people have different sensitivity. Therefore, don’t consume too much coffee at night time. However, there are mixed results on whether you can drink coffee or not because it impacts night owls different than early birds.
Foods to Avoid Before Bed
Just like there are foods to eat before bed, there are certain foods that you must avoid for quality sleep. These includes:
- Cheese
- Spicy Food
- Ice-cream
- Grapefruit
- Chocolate
- High sugar cereals
- Fatty food
Final Words
It is always better to eat food rich in tryptophan because it can help induce sleep. We have mentioned some of the best food to eat before bed for quality sleep. Try to eat these if you are also suffering from poor sleep.
