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5 Foods Beneficial to Have Before Going to Bed

Hey Angels and Alphas,

Getting quality sleep is vital to our overall health, that’s as much as obvious. It reduces our risk of developing chronic diseases, keeps our brain healthy, and improves our immune system. It’s generally recommended that you get between 7 and 9 hours of quality sleep every night, though many people can struggle to get enough.

There are countless strategies out there that you can use to promote better sleep, including making changes to your diet, as some foods and drinks have very beneficial sleep-promoting benefits.

Here are 5 of the best foods and drinks to have before bed so you can enhance the quality of your sleep.

#1 CHAMOMILE TEA

Chamomile tea is a very popular herbal tea that offers a variety of health benefits. It’s well known for its abundance of flavones. Flavones are a class of antioxidants that reduce the bad inflammation that often leads to chronic diseases such as cancer and even heart disease.

There has also been some evidence that drinking chamomile tea could boost your immune system, reduce your anxiety and depression, and improve your skin health. And lastly, chamomile tea has some unique properties that may improve sleep quality. Specifically, chamomile tea contains a compound known as apigenin. This antioxidant binds to certain receptors in your brain that may promote sleepiness and eliminate insomnia.

#2 KIWI

Kiwis are a very low-calorie, nutritious fruit. One fruit contains only 42 calories and a robust number of nutrients, including 71% of the daily value requirement for vitamin C. It provides both men and women with 23% and 31%, respectively, of the essential vitamin K that they need each day.

It contains a decent amount of folate and potassium, and not to mention, several trace minerals as well. Furthermore, eating kiwis may be beneficial to your digestive health, help you reduce inflammation, and lower your cholesterol. These effects are due to the high amounts of fiber and carotenoid antioxidants that kiwis provide.

#3 TART CHERRY JUICE

Tart cherry juice has very impressive health perks.

First, it provides decent amounts of a few vital nutrients, such as magnesium and phosphorus. It’s also a great source of potassium.

An 8-ounce (240-milliliter) serving might contain 17% of the potassium a woman needs each day and about 13% of the potassium that a man would need in a day. Additionally, it’s a powerful source of antioxidants, including anthocyanins and flavonols.

Tart cherry juice has also been known to promote sleepiness, and it’s even been studied for its role in relieving insomnia. For these reasons, drinking tart cherry juice before bed might be a good choice if you want to improve sleep quality.

The powerful and undeniable sleep-promoting effects of tart cherry juice are expressed in its high amount of melatonin. 

#4 FATTY FISH

Fatty fish including salmon, tuna, trout, and mackerel, are very healthy. What makes them unique is their high amounts of vitamin D, among other things.

EPA and DPA are both known for reducing bad inflammation. In addition, omega-3 fatty acids may have protective qualities against heart disease and work to boost brain health.

The healthy combination of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D in fatty fish is what has the real potential to do wonders for sleep quality because both have been shown to increase the production of serotonin. 

In one particular study, men who ate (300 grams) of Atlantic salmon up to three times a week for 6 months started falling asleep about 10 minutes faster than men who ate chicken or beef.

#5 WALNUTS

Walnuts are abundant in many vital nutrients, providing over 19 healthy vitamins and minerals, in addition to more than 1.9 grams of fiber, in a 28-gram (1-ounce) serving. Walnuts are particularly rich in magnesium, phosphorus, and copper, making them a go-to for anyone who wants to stack up on micronutrients.

Additionally, walnuts are an amazing source of healthy fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and linoleic acid. They also provide 4.3 grams of protein per ounce, which may be beneficial for reducing appetite. What’s more, some studies out there claim that eating walnuts improves sleep quality and has beneficial effects on insomnia, as they’re one of the best food sources of melatonin in nature.

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