Having trouble going to sleep? Been there and it’s not fun at all! After eating the right food, my sleep at night has been so much better. Yes, food can solve your sleep problems and here you will learn how.
Foods that are rich in Magnesium, Tryptophan, Vitamin B6, Calcium and Melatonin can help make sleeping easier than ever. So which food contains those vitamins? Here’s a list with 10 categories to help you out.
- Fruits / Berries
- Bananas, apples, avocados, peaches, cherries, dried prunes, pomegranate, grapes, olives
- Poultry
- Chicken, turkey
- Dairy
- Low fat yogurt, cheese, milk
- Nuts and seeds
- Almonds, pine nuts, flax seed, pecans, sunflower seeds, Brazilian nuts, pumpkin, cashews, peanuts, walnuts, pistachio nuts,
- Vegetables / dark leafy greens
- Collard greens, baby spinach, kale, broccoli, spinach, turnip greens, onions, seaweed, asparagus, lettuce,
- Seafood / Fish
- halibut, mackerel, tuna, salmon, shrimp, sardines, cod
- Legumes
- Soybeans, black beans, split peas, chickpeas, Lima beans, kidney beans
- Grains
- Wheat germ, wheat rice, barley, corn, oats, rice, barley, rolled oats,
- Tea / Beverages
- Chamomile tea, lavender tea, California poppy, Kava tea, warm milk, almond milk, Valerian tea, tart cherry juice, passion fruit tea, peppermint tea, St. John’s wort tea
- Others
- Pasta, red meat
There is a wide variety of foods that can help make you sleep! So what are you waiting for? Choose from this list that can definitely make your nights better.
Rich in various vitamins, the food in this list will make sleeping easier and prevent disrupted sleep. It can also help your overall health, keeping you away from other illnesses.
Eating the right food is also a good natural remedy so you don’t have to rely on medicine or health equipment that may cost a lot more than simply affording your food.
It’s important to maintain a healthy, balanced diet to make sure you can get proper sleep at night.
Now that you know the right food that you can include to your diet, what else is there to know about sleeping? What can interrupt your sleeping or what makes it hard? Read on to find out so you can also avoid it.
Foods that stop you from sleeping
But just knowing the right food may not be enough. You should also know about the food that does the opposite effect of what you are after!
Just as there are food that can make you sleepy, there are also food that can keep you awake. Here’s a list of food (and drinks) that you might want to avoid.
- Caffeine
- Spicy food
- Alcohol
- Chocolate
- Green tea
- Whole grains
- Pineapple
- Oranges
- Watermelon
- Celery
- Beef and other meat
Food and drinks that may contain caffeine are well known to keep your mind awake. You may try to sleep, but your overactive mind will keep you away from sleeping or entering deep sleep which your body needs.
Spicy foods, on the other hand, may have a lot of health benefits but eating too much of its portion at least 2 hours before bed might make it harder for you to sleep.
As for liquor, it does not actually promote better sleep.
In fact, excessive liquor can be bad for your health and sleeping time since it can possibly disrupt your breathing which will also stop you from getting the right rest that you can get with deep sleep.
When you go to sleep after drinking too much liquor, your body cannot enter into a deep sleep and may experience small interruptions during sleep that you may or may not notice at all.
Foods that are high in fat and protein will hinder your digestive system and make it harder for you to sleep.
One note to remember is that some foods that contain water like watermelon and celery are natural diuretics and it helps push water through your system.
It’s good for those who need to regulate their bladder and urinate frequently, but consuming diuretics close to bedtime can cause “nocturia”.
It is when a person frequently gets up late at night to urinate. This can be avoided if you limit your water intake or diuretics before bed.
What causes interrupted sleep?
The best way to apply the most effective remedy and start eating the right diet is knowing the cause behind the problem as a first step.
There are plenty of reasons why we may have a hard time sleeping which is why fixing it can also involve different methods.
Difficulty going to sleep is not good for our health especially for our heart.
- 17 Factors that Interrupts Sleep:
- Depression
- As long as a person is undergoing depression, sleeping may be a difficult task. It can trigger mild to severe insomnia.
- Insomnia
- Insomnia may also have different causes. If the person is struggling with insomnia, sleeping pills is recommended but consult a health expert first for more detailed diagnosis.
- Headaches
- Going
to sleep with a headache doesn’t always make the pain go away, it can
continue even during sleep which can wake us up all of a sudden.
It’s also not a good idea to sleep with a headache as there are reported cases of people showing signs of an illness that headache is a symptom of that caused sudden death in sleep.
- Going
to sleep with a headache doesn’t always make the pain go away, it can
continue even during sleep which can wake us up all of a sudden.
- Sleep apnea
- Sleep apnea is when a person is experiencing difficulty in breathing regardless and the heart actually stops beating or we stop breathing for a second or longer.
- Noises
- Simple causes such as noise and movements can definitely wake us up during sleep. Make sure your sleeping environment is sleep-friendly.
- Heart problems
- Heart problems will cause breathing problems as well. Being unable to breathe well can cause interrupted sleep.
- Musculoskeletal disorders
- Arthritis or other body pain can make sleeping difficult. People with such disorders may feel pain when shifting sleep positions and wake up from the pain.
- Kidney problems
- Kidney disease can cause waste products to build up in the blood and can result in insomnia or symptoms of restless legs syndrome.
- Nocturia
- Nocturia is when a person frequently gets up late at night to urinate. This can be avoided if you limit your water intake before bed.
- Phobias
- When a person’s phobia has been triggered, it may cause them to struggle sleeping.
- Stress
- Too much stress can lead to other mental health issues and make sleeping difficult.
- Anxiety
- People with anxiety disorders are prone to insomnia regardless of the severity.
- Panic attacks
- Panic attacks can happen to anyone at anytime, but usually people with anxiety disorders experience this and have a hard time sleeping.
- Bipolar disorder
- Irregular mood patterns can also disrupt the mind’s decision making.
People with bipolar disorder may suddenly decide they don’t feel like sleeping yet and disrupt the entire sleeping pattern.
- Irregular mood patterns can also disrupt the mind’s decision making.
- Schizophrenia
- According to studies, schizophrenic people tend to experience hallucinations or hear voices inside their head that may interrupt their sleeping.
- Epilepsy
- Epilepsy attacks can happen during sleep and it apparently happens more at night than during the day and causes disrupted sleep.
- Dementia
- Neurological
disorders that affect the brain like dementia and other disorders can
cause wandering, disorientation, and agitation during the evening and
night.
This phenomenon is referred to as “sundowning,” and causes interrupted sleeping.
- Neurological
disorders that affect the brain like dementia and other disorders can
cause wandering, disorientation, and agitation during the evening and
night.
- Depression
It is also possible that interrupted sleeping can be a sign of other illnesses that may continue to worsen each other as long as both the illnesses exists.
No matter how normal it may seem, if it happens too frequently, curing the problem comes first before anything dangerous happens to your health.
For some cases, interrupted sleeping may be a sign of a sleeping condition called “sleep apnea” and it’s another sleep problem that one must be wary of since it can potentially cause death during sleep.
Hopefully, you manage to get better sleep from now on!
Related Questions
What can I do to stay awake?
There are a lot of things that you can do to stay awake. Here’s a few good suggestions that may work for you.
- Drink caffeine
- Move around, exercise
- Watch interesting videos
- Eat an energy boosting snack
- Avoid slouching, fix your posture
- Stay in a well-lighted area or room
- Get plenty of sunshine in the morning
- Brainstorm or focus on your activities
- Dance around, do some physical activities
- Participate in conversations, listen properly
How to fix interrupted sleep?
There are different ways that can help fix interrupted sleep. Here’s a list that can help you out.
- 20 Ways to Fix Interrupted Sleep:
- Drinking chamomile tea
- Follow a proper sleep routine
- Take advantage of morning sunlight
- Use a CPAP Machine
- Mental therapies
- Keep distracting gadgets away.
- Manage stress levels
- Eat a healthy diet.
- Shower at night
- Use aromatherapy
- Lose weight
- Avoid smoking cigarettes
- Limit or avoid drinking liquor before bed
- Keep your body relaxed two hours before bed
- Don’t sleep with your stomach full
- Avoid daytime napping
- Sleep in a cozy bedroom
- Do relaxing activities before sleeping
- Keep clocks out of sight
- Exercise regularly
Is 5 hours of sleep OK?
Yes, 5 hours of sleep is okay but getting 5 hours of sleep daily can be bad, so it’s best to sleep at least 6 hours a day which is the recommended amount of sleep an average adult should get.
Average hours of sleep range between 6 to 7, but 5 is still moderately okay. However, too much or too little sleep is the one that isn’t okay, try to get the right amount of sleep to make sure your body gets proper rest.
