Support Your Sleep With These Foods
A night of peaceful, deep and quality sleep is a blessing and a powerful remedy to stress, anxiety, and inflammation. To have not just one, but plenty of your nights filled with rest and sleep, try adding the following foods to your life. Especially if you find yourself tossing and turning in your bed at night instead of sleeping.
1. Chamomile:
Chamomile tea is a popular sleep-inducing tea that helps eliminate stress and anxiety. Before you go to bed, take a moment to sip a warm cup of chamomile herbal tea to relax, unwind and de-stress. A recent study did find that the beverage helped reduce insomnia in a sample of 40 postpartum women—and the effects were reversed when they stopped drinking the tea. This may be due to the fact that chamomile tea includes a flavonoid called apigenen, which binds to receptors in our cells that help us relax.
2. Pistachios:
Pistachios are not only tasty, but they are a jackpot for sleep. They are jampacked with magnesium, protein, and vitamin B6, which have a major role in inducing sleep. Consuming a healthy amount of pistachios before going to bed will knock you out like nothing else. You can eat them raw or add them to a glass of warm milk. However, caution! More than one ounce of pistachios could have a reverse effect on your body; eat in moderation to avoid exacerbating your sleep issues.
3. Fruits:
Fruits that contain fructose can promote sleep, so before going to bed, you snack on some berries and fruits that are sweet in taste. Or you can add some organic locally sourced honey to your hot tea.
4. Tart cherry juice:
This juice contains high levels of melatonin, which is responsible for inducing sleep in your body. It can improve the quality of your sleep by regulating your body’s sleep cycles. A study conducted by Louisiana State University found that insomniacs who drank tart cherry juice increased their sleep time by 90 minutes!
5. Bananas:
This fruit is a powerhouse of magnesium and potassium, which serve as natural sleep aids for your body by relaxing smooth muscle. If you are feeling wide awake late into the night, try a banana or two to get yourself to sleep. You can even whip yourself up a thick sugar-free banana shake before you go to bed.
6. Walnuts:
Walnuts contain an amino acid called tryptophan. Tryptophan you know from turkey, right? This amino acid is responsible for the production of melatonin and serotonin, which improve the quality of our sleep by regulating the sleep cycles. The best part about walnuts is that they contain melatonin, so they are not only helping in the production of melatonin, but they add a little more to help you fall asleep even faster.
7. Pumpkin seeds:
A cup of pumpkin seeds contains around 420 mg of magnesium, which is the daily recommendation of the National Health Institute. Magnesium is also a sleep-inducing agent for your body. If you cannot find pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds or sunflower seeds are great substitutions.
The search for the elusive “good night’s sleep” can be frustrating and exhausting. Before you reach for over-the-counter sleep aids, try some of the natural remedies to get your body on the right path to sound sleep!
One more thing before you go! Bonus sleep tool…
Turmeric Golden Milk – My Favorite Sleep Remedy :)
If you suffer from chronic sleep problems, you have probably scoured the internet for solutions, and you may have heard about the Golden Milk remedy that promises to help you get the rest you need. It’s one of my favorite ways to relax in the evening and know I’ll get a great night’s sleep. Here’s some more about it.
Turmeric milk has long been used in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese practices to help remedy sleep problems. It is a combination of warm, drained coconut, turmeric, cinnamon, coconut oil, and peppercorn. Turmeric’s anti-inflammatory properties may help reduce swelling in your bones and joints, relieving pressure and pain. It may also help soothe the digestive system, relieving the symptoms of diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and irritable bowel syndrome. In addition, turmeric has been shown to lower glucose levels and improve digestive assimilation, resulting in less inner chaos before your bedtime. Moreover, a warm mug of anything is bound to help calm and relax your body, preparing it for a good night’s sleep.
The best time to drink your mug of turmeric milk is when you are beginning to wind down for the evening, at the start of your bedtime routine. You can also add ginger or cinnamon—or both!—if you like. It is recommended to use the turmeric root itself, as opposed to powdered turmeric. Before turmeric is powdered, the root is heated, dried, and cured; this has a tendency to dilute the potency of the root. However, in a pinch, either will do.
How well you sleep is heavily dependent upon how well you prepare for sleep. Since adding a mug of turmeric milk to my evening bedtime routine, I have experienced longer, more restful sleep that helps me wake up refreshed and energized. For more benefits of turmeric check out this blog post from last March.
If you are feeling called to take the next step, contact me to set up a clarity call. Together we will discuss your healing journey, and make an action plan to get you to your goal.
If one-on-one coaching isn’t your thing, but you are ready to make a change, I have a super easy & approachable 14 day course, that will help you create healthy habits, and rid your body of toxicity and inflammation in a safe and natural way. For the price of 1 meal at a restaurant, you can start changing your life, step-by-step at your own pace over a 2 week period. Check out the 14 Days to Vibrant Health Course here.
Namaste,
- Dr. Lara
P.S.
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