Having One Bowl of This Simple Meal at Night Helps You Sleep Longer and Better - Physician Reveals
One of the toughest parts of adulthood is deciding what to eat or cook for the next meal. Oftentimes, we end up making wrong meal choices by letting the ghost of our cravings decide what we should eat and what we shouldn’t. Little do we know, that the food we choose to eat, especially for dinner, impacts our good night's sleep. In an interview with GB News, a doctor and medical director at Southeast Detox, Pamela Tambini, demystified the correct foods one should eat before bedtime. Milk and porridge, she said, are the best.
“Certain foods can naturally support better sleep by providing nutrients like magnesium, tryptophan and melatonin,” Doctor Tambini said. She added that foods with antioxidants such as kiwi are especially beneficial for achieving good sleep quality and longer sleep. Apart from that, milk and porridge are some extremely good options. She revealed that the tryptophan in milk can help promote feelings of calm and relaxation while a “small serving of porridge provides slow-digesting carbs and melatonin, which can help signal your body that it’s time to rest.”
Like Doctor Tambini, Sleep doctor, Janet Kennedy, told Parade that foods with tryptophan ensure better-quality sleep. Tryptophan is “an amino acid used to make melatonin, a hormone that facilitates sleep,” she explained and added that most protein-rich foods, nuts, and seeds contain this ingredient. Kennedy however is against consuming high-sugar foods before sleep. “Overloading on sweets at bedtime can have a negative effect on sleep,” she said. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine also analyzed two groups of people; one was fed a dinner high in fats and fiber but low in sugar. The other group could eat whatever they wanted. Those who consumed more sugar before bedtime had shorter sleep duration and poor quality, less deep, slow-wave sleep.
So, the key is to avoid sugary snacks and opt for proteins and healthy fats, especially those with tryptophan. Kennedy explained that foods with omega-3 fatty acids can help induce better sleep. Also, while cheese is not exactly the right bedtime food, cottage cheese is a relatively good source of tryptophan, hence a sleep promoter. Other kinds of cheese, such as processed ones like mozzarella, contain “tyramine,” which triggers the release of norepinephrine, which may stimulate the brain and disrupt sleep, according to John Hopkins Medicine. On the other hand, foods like whole-wheat toast or a bowl of oatmeal are typically preferred by health experts.
The main thing is to arrive at the balance that your body needs. “If I need a snack after dinnertime, I try to choose something with protein and fat to balance out whatever carbohydrate I'm having,” Kennedy noted. The expert said she usually likes to eat foods like peanut butter toast with an apple or yogurt with berries as her bedtime snacks. This doesn’t mean one needs to suppress one’s late-night cravings. The sleep doctor said she allows herself to snack on a bar of dark chocolate or a bowl of peanut butter with seeds, nuts, and berries to satisfy her sweet-tooth cravings.
Then some foods should be avoided at all costs if one is to get a dreamy sleep. John Hopkins Medicine explains that spicy foods, acidic foods like tomato sauce, and foods with red pepper should be avoided at all costs. Sugary and caffeinated items like non-cola sodas, chocolates, coffee, and tea are also not recommended. On the flip side, Medical News Today recommends warm milk, lettuce, or fatty fish for a good slumber, along with nuts such as almonds and walnuts. Herbal teas like chamomile tea and passionflower tea are also good. But even after preparing a perfect blend of nutrients, a good night’s sleep ultimately depends on a lot of other factors.