In addition to the practice of good sleep hygiene as discussed in the previous post, research has shown that certain food particularly those containing high levels of melatonin (a natural hormone that regulates good sleep) and tryptophan (essential amino acid required by the body to make melatonin) can help to promote good sleep.
The following is a list of food that can actually help in promoting sleep.
References:
- Meng et. al. (2017). Dietary Sources and Bioactivities of Melatonin. Nutrients 9(4): 367.
- Peuhkuri, K., Sihvola, N., & Korpela, R. (2012). Diet promotes sleep duration and quality. Nutrition Research 32(5): 309-319.
- Srivastava, J., Shankar, E., & Gupta, S. (2011). Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with bright future. Mol Med Report 3(6): 895-901.
- Steinberg et. al. (1992). Tryptophan intake influences infants’ sleep latency. The Journal of Nutrition 122(9): 1781-1791.
- Zeng et. al. (2014). Strategies of Functional Foods Promote Sleep in Human Being. Curr Signal Transduct Ther. 9(3): 148-155.
- Hartmann, E. (1982). Effects of L-tryptophan on sleepiness and on sleep. J Psychiatr Res. 17(2): 107-113.
- Abbasi (2012). The effect of magnesium supplementation on primary insomnia in elderly: A double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. J Res Med Sci. 17(12): 1161-1169.
- Pigeon (2010). Effects of a tart cherry juice beverage on the sleep of older adults with insomnia: a pilot study. J Med Food. 13(3): 579-583.
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