Eating before bed is okay to help you fall asleep better

The average adult is recommended to sleep 7-8 hours each night. Unfortunately, many cannot fulfill it. Whether because you have to work overtime or insomnia. In fact, sleeping well has many health benefits - from reducing the risk of chronic disease, maintaining brain health, to maintaining a healthy body weight. If you're one of those people who has trouble sleeping well, don't worry. Eating before bed can actually help you fall asleep more easily.

What can we eat before bed?

You shouldn't eat all foods before bed, but some of the food recommendations below are beneficial for your health.

1. Almonds

Almonds dipped at night before bed will help the body produce more of the sleepy hormone melatonin.

Almonds are also high in magnesium, able to meet 19% of your daily needs. Magnesium works to keep you asleep, especially for people who have insomnia. Magnesium deficiency can make it easy for you to wake up in the middle of the night and find it difficult to get back to sleep.

Magnesium also helps reduce the stress hormone cortisol, a hormone known to interfere with sleep quality.

2. Chamomile tea

Chamomile tea has many health benefits. One of them is to make sleep better, thanks to the antioxidant content of apiegin. Apiegin triggers the brain to release the hormone melatonin so that you will feel calmer, more comfortable, and sleepy.

Reported on the Healthline page, the effect of apiegin also helps reduce insomnia. One study in 34 adults found that the group that took 270 mg of chamomile extract twice a day had 15 minutes less time

Another study found that women who drank chamomile tea for 2 weeks reported better sleep quality.

People who drank chamomile tea also had fewer symptoms of depression, which is generally associated with sleep problems.

3. Good fatty fish

Salmon, tuna, mackerel are fish rich in healthy fats, especially the omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. Both are known to play an important role in reducing inflammation and protecting heart and brain health.

In addition, these fish are also high in vitamin D. About 100 grams of salmon contain 525-990 IU of vitamin D, which can meet 50% of your daily vitamin D needs.

The combination of omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D has the potential to improve sleep quality by increasing the production of serotonin, a chemical in the brain that regulates the sleep cycle.

Research in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows that adult male respondents who eat salmon at night can start falling asleep 10 minutes earlier than adult men who eat chicken, beef, or pork.

4. Banana smoothie

Smoothies made from bananas and low-fat milk supply your body with ample amounts of vitamin D and calcium.

Bananas contain natural muscle relaxants such as magnesium, potassium, the amino acid tryptophan, and vitamin B6 which can help your brain release serotonin and melatonin to make you feel more relaxed and sleepy. Milk also has the same effect because it also contains magnesium, tiptophan, vitamin D, and vitamin B.

The combination of all these nutrients, reported by Prevention, can help reduce trouble sleeping and make you sleep longer.

5. Kiwi fruit

Research in Advances in Nutrition in 2016 also shows that kiwifruit is good for you as a food before bed because it helps improve sleep quality.

The study involved 24 adults who were asked to eat kiwi one hour before bedtime for 4 consecutive weeks. As a result, 42% of respondents reported that they could sleep faster than when they did not regularly eat kiwi at night.

Previous research published in the journal Asia Pacific Journal Clinical Nutrition in 2011 also found that the kiwi you eat before bed helps prolong sleep and keeps you from waking up easily in the middle of the night.

The benefits of kiwi as a bedtime food are thought to come from the antioxidant content of carotenoids, vitamins C, K, folate, and potassium. Researchers recommend that you eat 1-2 kiwifruit before bed to sleep better until morning.