Not many people realise that what kind of diet you have can mean all the difference between a good night’s sleep and a poor one. So by making just a few changes here and there, you could be on your way to better sleep at night.
Natural solutions to sleeping problems should always be the treatment of choice, as most sleeping pills especially when taken for long periods of time, can have many negative side effects.
Some of which are giving a hangover type feeling the next day, can increase the risk of car and work accidents, and can impair memory and performance at home and at work.
1. The Scurvy-Fighting Vitamin
A recent study published in the journal Appetite, has found a link between low vitamin C intake and not sleeping for long periods of time at night.
This study set out to find differences in the diets of people who would sleep the longest and the shortest. Just one of the nutrients found to be low in those that slept for less than 5 hours a night, was vitamin C.
A fantastic vegetable that can offer you 119.8 mg of vitamin C per cup is the green pepper. With adults needing only 40 mg a day of vitamin C, that makes the green pepper a fantastic option to include in your diet to help your insomnia.
2. Increase Calcium Intake
James F. Balch, M.D., author of Prescription for Nutritional Healing, has told Medical News Today that there are many studies confirming a lack of calcium, combined with magnesium, will cause you to wake up after a few hours only of sleep, stopping you getting back to sleep.
One study that was published in the European Neurology Journal found that calcium levels in the body are higher during the rapid eye movement (REM) phase of sleep, which is one of the deepest levels of sleep.
This study then went on to conclude that disturbances in sleep, especially the lack of REM deep sleep or disturbed REM sleep, are related to a calcium deficiency.
When the research team restored the level of blood calcium in the test participants, normal sleep was then achieved.
M.D, William Sears goes on to explain that calcium helps the brain to use the amino acid tryptophan to manufacture melatonin, which is a sleep inducing hormone. So, foods rich in calcium are often noted as the top sleep inducing foods.
Okra is a podded green vegetable that is rich in calcium and has a similar taste to eggplant. Okra contains around 82 mg of calcium per 100 g of the vegetable. Adults need between 800-1000 mg of calcium daily.