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Sleep awareness week: 10 foods to help a person sleep at night

Rising stress is one of the factors which contribute to person's insomnia and can be fixed by dietary changes.

Insomnia is, by, far the most common type of sleep disorder.

According to studies, one in every three adults suffers from sleeplessness and one in every 10 of them have it chronically. Rising stress is one of the many factors which contribute to this sort of insomnia and it can be fixed by many natural methods.

One of the best ways to get better sleep is by simply changing a person’s diet. A good healthy meal, actually does help a person get better sleep say studies. While it certainly does not mean that a person will simply gorge on whatever they can lay there hands on, here are the foods, which when had in proper measure, help sleep.

Following are the top 10 food items which help sleep:

Poultry: Chicken or Turkey has tryptophan. Tryptophan is an amino acid that one can only get from what one eats or drinks. It helps the body make serotonin (which helps relax) and facilitates the production of melatonin which controls sleep cycles.

Fish: Vitamin B6 is abundant in fish, with salmon, tuna, and halibut having the most. B6 is what makes melatonin.

Yogurt: Calcium processes hormones that help sleep which are tryptophan and melatonin. Calcium, of course, can be found in anything dairy related.

Kale: The leafy green is also rich in calcium which again is important in making those sleep hormones go to work.

Bananas: Bananas are high in potassium which helps a person to stay asleep. It also has tryptophan and magnesium which are natural sedatives.

Whole Grains: Encourages insulin production that results in tryptophan activity in the brain. It also has magnesium which is said to help one stay asleep. When magnesium levels are too low one is more likely to wake up during the night.

Honey: Glucose in honey lowers levels of orexin, orexin is a neurotransmitter in the brain that makes one more alert. Honey reverses the effects of orexin.

Nuts: Walnuts, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds. These all boost serotonin levels by having magnesium and tryptophan.

Eggs: Eggs are popular in the morning, but they also can make you sleepy due to having tryptophan.

White Rice: White rice has a high glycemic index. This simply means that they will give you a natural increase in blood sugar and insulin levels, which in turn, helps tryptophan go to work in brain faster.

( Source : deccan chronicle )
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