Studies have shown that one in three adults suffers from insomnia or symptoms of insomnia, meaning that one in three adults struggles to get enough sleep. But the key to a night of longer, better quality sleep may be as simple as eating two kiwi fruits an hour before bed.
In a recent study, subjects were given two kiwifruit an hour before bed, every night over a four-week period. The researchers hypothesized that kiwifruit might be an effective sleep aid due to the antioxidants and serotonin the fruit contains.
The study showed that participants with pre-existing sleep problems who ate kiwifruit before bed each night got an extra hour of sleep.
These study results are promising for those with sleep disorders, and are especially significant given that the long-term health ramifications of sleep disorders like insomnia.
Studies dating back to a few years ago associate sleep disorders with increased mortality, suggesting that an optimal amount of sleep to get per night is seven hours.
Getting the right amount of sleep should be a priority – especially since getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night has been showed to have a positive impact on short-term memory in men and women in their 50s and 60s, as well as on overall immune function.