Stuff to Eat to Induce Sleepiness; 2 Types of Natural Sleeping Aids
There is actually more things to life than sleeping and eating, however we can’t live to our full potential if we don’t get enough of both of these activities either. Sleeping disorders and the difficulty in getting to sleep is a common tragedy in our generation today. Typically, mainly because of the advent of technology. Believe it or not watching television can get you to sleep a lot longer than just sitting down and reading a good book. The reason for that is that the television’s light send wake up signals to our brain similar to daylight. Hence the need for natural treatments for insomnia.
Like television and reading there are also food we can take to get ourselves alert and awake, as well as food we can take to get to sleep faster. The need to get to sleep on time depends on person to person. Things that involve school or work definitely demands us to sleep on a regular time to get up and perform at our best.
Sleep deprivation has been known to cause lowered immune system, irritability, short attention span, low on short term memory capacity, as well as lowered cognitive abilities. On the other hand, regular amounts of sleep can improve cognitive performance because the brain renews itself every night we get to dreaming.
What are the Food to Take and Why
Fish, poultry, especially turkey, eggs, and red meat are all rich in tryptophan as well as protein, but it is tryptophan we are interested in. Tryptophan is an essential ammino acid that is a precursor to the anti-oxidant called melatonin. Melatonin is synthesized in our pineal gland naturally and aids us not only to fight cancer, but sleep disorder as well. Once neuroreceptors such as melatonin is present in the brain, you’ll not only get sleepy easily, you’ll also feel better about it thanks to another ingredient triggered into production by these foods called serotonin. Serotonin is the chemical ingredient responsible for the sense of well being.
Oats, whole grain food, wheat bread, and cereals are good sources of carbohydrates and have relatively lower sugar than most carbohydrate sources. These food trigger the release of a chemical called insulin that lowers blood sugar levels and helps in the conversion of tryptophan into melatonin.
The combination of these food have seldom been blamed for the drowsiness people feel right after eating a well-prepared Thanksgiving dinner. Now you know why.
Food to avoid before sleeping
Food containing caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and sugar are to be avoided at all costs. Caffeine blocks out the neuroreceptors in our brains that help you get to sleep. Alcohol is a depressant but it also alters the brain’s functions, making sleeping irregular and unproductive. Sugar can heighten brain activity which can cause rise in heart rate that can prevent sleep. Nicotine is found in cigarettes and are used by a whole lot of people to wake up.
With these natural sleeping aids at your disposal, you’ll most likely be sleeping like a baby right on your desired scheduled time.