Most of us know going to bed on a full stomach can affect our sleep. Changing what we eat and the time of day we eat certain foods can help us sleep better.
We’ve all woken up the morning after a large, late night meal feeling tired out. The extra energy required to digest big portions of rich food can eat into our kip, leading to a disturbed night’s sleep.
Thankfully, there are also ways we can try to improve our sleep through our diet by avoiding certain foods and drinks known to keep us awake, such as those containing caffeine. But can we also eat other foods – particularly before we go to bed – to boost the quality of our sleep further?
Food or diet?
Several studies have narrowed in on certain suppers that could improve our sleep. Some small trials have found that tart cherry juice, for example, can help people sleep better, and others find that eating kiwifruit before bed is beneficial. There’s also some research showing that warm milk can help us sleep. It is thought the high levels of tryptophan – from which the “sleep hormone” melatonin is synthesised by the body – in milk may help to induce sleep onset.
Melatonin regulates our sleep/ wake cycle. Our bodies produce more of it later in the day, when it starts to get dark. But we can also get melatonin directly from foods, including eggs, fish, nuts and seeds.
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