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Fighting Insomnia If you want to fight sleep deprivation, it is better to get proper nutrition. Yes, that means eating the right foods in the evening and knowing what foods to avoid. A sedative such as tryptophan is good for the body to produce serotonin, an ingredient for creating calmness and making you sleepy at night. Based from a research, those who ate foods rich in tryptophan with carbohydrates have an increased improvement on all measures of sleep. It works just like a natural food supplement. Good Source of Serotonin Production The following are good source of low protein diet and high carbohydrate for Serotonin production. These include: • Crackers • Cereal • Whole wheat pasta • Brown rice • Whole-grain breads • Fruits such as banana, mangoes, grape, oranges, plums and papaya. • Vegetables like spinach, yams, potatoes, sweet, butternut, green peas, squash, broccoli, asparagus, celery, pumpkins, and cauliflower. • Low-fat ice cream • Low-fat frozen Yogurt. What do you need to avoid before bedtime? 1. Alcohol – It is true that too much intake of alcohol can cause sleep but after a few hours, it can cause frequent awakening. It is not necessary to give up alcohol, minimal intake has still good benefits on health but using it just like a sleeping pill will definitely kill your sleeping habits and not very healthy. If you have insomnia, give up on drinking alcohol for few weeks and see if your sleeping habits resolves. 2. Caffeine – Caffeine has a natural ingredient that activates the central nervous system. It alters the nerves and thought processes which are not good before bedtime. It should be avoided especially those people with insomnia. Soft drinks, tea and chocolates have caffeine ingredients so it should also be avoided. If you drink those before bedtime, it will surely keep you awake. Sensitive people must stop drinking caffeine 8 hours before bedtime. 3. Liquids – if you don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night to go to your bathroom, limit the water intake within 90 minutes before bedtime. If you need to drink water due to medication just take a small sips. 4. Large meals – Eating large amount of food can cause drowsiness when you lie down and try to sleep. You will also experience uncomfortably full which can keep you awake. Also, there is a possibility that you can get heartburn thus it increases your discomfort. Ideally, you should eat dinner that has mo more than 600 calories and at least 3 hours before you sleep. If you can’t avoid eating, have a slight snack with low protein diet and high carbohydrates as I mentioned earlier.
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