Eating food is something that we all do, as it is instrumental in our day to day lives. However, it is essential to eat a healthy diet if you want your body to function like a well-oiled machine. In fact, certain ailments can be treated or avoided by making the right dietary choices. For instance, the quality of your sleep can be affected by your dietary choices, for better or worse. So instead of reaching for a pill to get a good night sleep put the best foods for insomnia in your stomach.
While there are many tricks to help get you to sleep at night, making the correct dietary choices can have quite the effect on your ability to get a good night’s rest. If you are interested in getting a better night’s sleep, check out the foods that can help you sleep better.
Foods packed with magnesium
Often referred to as the “sleep mineral,” magnesium helps deactivate adrenaline and acts like a natural relaxant. Instrumental for sleep, magnesium can affect a person’s ability to go to sleep and staying asleep. To make sure you get enough magnesium into your daily diet, eat more soybeans, wheat germ, low-fat yogurt, mackerel, salmon, tuna, halibut, avocados, bananas, kale, collard greens, baby spinach, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, pecans, pine nuts, brazil nuts, cashews, and almonds.
Foods packed with vitamin B6
People who are deficient in vitamin B6 often have lowered serotonin levels and poor sleep quality. Also linked to symptoms of depression and other mood disorders, a deficiency in B6 can lead to insomnia. Vitamin B6 is essential for sleep quality because it helps convert tryptophan into melatonin. To help fight against mood disorders and insomnia, add more B6 to your diet by eating bananas, dried prunes, avocado, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, pistachio nuts, spinach, lean beef, chicken, tuna, lean pork, halibut, salmon, and tuna.
Foods packed with calcium
If you are deficient in calcium, you can find yourself waking up in the middle of the night and have trouble returning to sleep. The mineral calcium helps the brain make melatonin, so a calcium-rich diet can help a patient who is suffering from insomnia. To overcome a deficiency in calcium naturally, add more okra, broccoli, dark leafy greens, green snap peas, soybeans, sardines, fortified cereals, fortified orange juice, low-fat milk, cheese, yogurt, as well as enriched bread and grains into your daily diet.
Foods packed with melatonin
Certain foods are excellent sources of melatonin. If you are looking to add more foods to your diet that contain naturally occurring melatonin, you can find them in seeds and nuts, such as flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, mustard seeds, peanuts, and walnuts. Rolled oats, rice, barley, and other grains are another excellent source, as well as fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, tomatoes, corn, olives, grapes, cucumber, asparagus, pomegranate, and tart cherries.
Foods packed with tryptophan
When the amino acid tryptophan is ingested, it turns into the neurotransmitter serotonin and is then converted into melatonin, a hormone created by the body that can help relax you and allow you to fall asleep. If you are looking for a way to add more tryptophan to your daily diet, eat more chicken, turkey, cod, shrimp, salmon, tuna, cod, sardines, halibut, cheese, milk, low-fat yogurt, oats, barley, corn, rice, wheat, peaches, avocado, bananas, apples, chickpeas, kidney beans, lima beans, black beans, kidney beans, seaweed, spinach, broccoli, almonds, peanuts, walnuts, flax, pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds.
