Sleep Snacks

“You are what you eat” is a short-handed way of saying that how you function throughout the day – not to mention how you look and feel about yourself – is largely based on how you nourish yourself.

But here’s another phrase that will hopefully carve into the English language’s vast lexicon of health clichés: “What you ingest influences your rest.”

Has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?

Let me explain…

In my 30 plus years of experience with sleep, I’ve found that what I eat before bed time has a major influence on the quality of my sleep.  I’m sure you’ve found this to be the case in your own sleep experience, hopefully identifying the foods that make sleep sound and the foods that make sleep shaky, as in restless.

As is often the case, how foods affect sleep tends to differ from person to person.  But in reading a few tips from Men’s Health magazine, some of the sleep-inducing foods they list are the same foods I’ve found work wonders with my ability to sleep soundly.

Here are a handful of them they mention that I, or friends of mine, confirm as to their sleep-inducing properties:

Popcorn

Now I’m not talking about the popcorn from the movie theater, the kind that’s dredged in butter, popped with peanut oil, and saturated with salt.  I’m talking about organic popcorn that’s air-popped.  The carbohydrates of popcorn relax the body, and increases serotonin production – a crucial component in sleep quality.

Sesame Seeds

Sesame seeds are loaded with tryptophan, which, like carbohydrates, affect serotonin production.  I’m guessing, however, that sesame seeds aren’t at the top of your snack list right before bedtime.  But an organic sesame bagel might be.

Another way to snack with sesame is with a cabbage salad.  The recipe calls for a head of cabbage, green onion, extra virgin olive oil, sugar, salt, pepper, almonds (another sleep-inducing food, as you’re about to discover), and about three to four tablespoons of sesame seeds (Send me a message if you’d like the full recipe; the recipe serves about four to five people).  It’s a healthy dish that a sound-sleeping friend of mine swears by before he hits the sack.

Almonds

Nuts like almonds contain lots of arginine, an amino acid involved in stress regulation.  Some Slovakian researchers looked into how this amino acid affected stress levels and found that those who consumed foods high in arginine and another amino acid (lysine) had lower stress levels than those given a placebo.  They also felt less anxious during speeches (the study’s participants ate about three grams worth of nuts before delivering a speech).

Peppers

A key contributor to sleeping soundly is keeping stress levels down.  And researchers from the University of Alabama found that vitamin C helped lower the stress hormone cortisol in lab rats by nearly stopping its production (the rats were fed 200 milligrams worth of vitamin C).  And what vegetable is best for vitamin C?  Bell peppers (the yellow ones in particular, as referenced here).

Men’s Health magazine lists four other sources for shuteye, but these are the ones that I or close friends of mine can confirm as to their sleep-inducing properties.

As always, opt for organic sources if and when you select these grocery items.

Sleep tight!

Sources
health.msn.com