Eat Well to Sleep Well

The quality of sleep you get has an enormous impact on your daily life. Poor or disordered sleep can affect your concentration and ability to interact with others.

If you don’t wake up feeling refreshed, here are some eating habits you should look into. They may be affecting your ability to get restful sleep.

Don’t...

• Eat too much or too little. A light snack at bedtime can promote sleep, but too much food can cause digestive discomfort that leads to wakefulness.
• Drink alcohol. Though small amounts can help you fall asleep, alcohol can worsen insomnia and impair deep sleep, which your body needs to restore itself. Alcohol can also dehydrate you, leaving you tired the next day.
• Consume caffeine. If you are sensitive to caffeine, avoid it in the afternoon and evening.
• Eat fat. If you consume a high-fat meal in the evening or eat foods that you have found cause you indigestion and heartburn, your sleep can be disturbed and restless.
• Eat late at night. Lying down with a full stomach puts you at a gravitational disadvantage, encouraging acids to flow up into the esophagus, causing uncomfortable heartburn that will make sleep challenging.
• Drink fluids too close to bedtime. Avoid fluids after dinner to reduce the need to go to the bathroom during the night.

Do...

• Drink milk and honey. Milk contains an essential amino acid (tryptophan) that is a natural sedative. Carbohydrates facilitate the entry of tryptophan into the brain, so a spoonful of honey is the perfect solution with milk.
• Eat a turkey sandwich. This is another sleep-inducing combination of tryptophan and carbohydrates.
• Have a banana with milk. The banana’s vitamin B6 has a similar sleepy effects when mixed with tryptophan.