Eat Healthy, Sleep Better

More than just a refreshing base for your salad, lettuce is a surprisingly effective bedtime snack that helps with sleep. Romaine lettuce especially contains a phytonutrient called lactucarium, which is said to induce sleep, relieves pain and promote relaxation. So if you’re feeling peckish after the sun goes down, chow down on some of that crispy green stuff and enjoy some shut-eye.

Cherries are also known to promote sleepiness, and it has even been studied for its role in relieving insomnia. It has been found that tart cherries (the sour kind) are a natural source of melatonin. For these reasons, drinking cherry juice or having it as it before bed may improve your sleep quality. In fact, there are even some small studies like those conducted at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York and the School of Life Sciences at Northumbria University in the UK have suggested incorporating tart cherries into your daily diet to help regulate your sleep cycle and make it easier for you to fall asleep at night.

Probably the most common and widely recommended solution for a good night sleep. The common thought is that milk can help people fall asleep because it contains sleep-promoting compounds like tryptophan, calcium, vitamin D, and melatonin. However, recent studies have shown that the science behind the belief that this warm milk helps you sleep is mostly psychological. But that doesn’t make it any less valid. The brain is a powerful tool and though a glass of warm milk might not scientifically influence sleep onset, researchers not that the routine of drinking a glass of warm milk may elicit pleasant memories of your mum, home and childhood that may help us relax.

White rice may be packed full of carbs (not all carbs are bad) that contributes to its high glycemic index, but it has been suggested that eating foods with a high glycemic index, such as white rice, a few hours before bed may help improve sleep quality. This is because studies have shown that high glycemic foods can trigger production of serotonin that leads to sleep. While all white rice is credited with inducing sleep, jasmine rice helps people fall asleep the fastest. Not really a surprising revelation if you’re a banana leaf rice fan.