Recently I've been having some trouble sleeping. Mostly it's waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep. Occasionally it's not being able to get to sleep as my mind races a mile a minute. I attribute it to various stresses like work and things going on in my personal life (I'm getting ready to buy a house for example, which is a BIG stress right now). To be honest, on weekends I don't mind a little insomnia. I usually get up, play some video games or read and go back to sleep. But during the week it really sucks.
I'm not a big fan of using chemicals to fix what ails me such as sleeping aids or even aspirin (unless I'm really miserable). Today I stumbled upon an article listing the top 10 sleep inducing foods. Some of the items listed are pretty obvious (like Turkey, according to the article it works differently than most people expect). The nice thing about this list is it's so simple, there is even a recipe for some sleep inducing muffins.
Some of my favoriate items from the article:
Bananas. They're practically a sleeping pill in a peel. In addition to a bit of soothing melatonin and serotonin, bananas contain magnesium, a muscle relaxant.
Honey. Drizzle a little in your warm milk or herb tea. Lots of sugar is stimulating, but a little glucose tells your brain to turn off orexin, a recently discovered neurotransmitter that's linked to alertness.
So the next time you have trouble sleeping go fix yourself a midnight snack and avoid the sleeping pills.
Read the article here.