A fatty and / or spicy dinner flavored with alcohol or a generous dose of caffeinated drink will definitely provide you with an unpleasant, sleepless night. Elena Tsareva, a neurologist-somnologist of the Atlas Medical Center, tells what products (and dishes made from them) will bring peace, tranquility and sweet nap.
Herculean porridge
While your surprised eyebrows are confidently crawling up, let's talk about everything in order. Melatonin - one of the main hormones needed for healthy sleep - can be produced in the body on its own, or come from the outside with certain foods. According to the Society for Light Therapy and Biological Rhythms, a middle-aged person's blood contains 5-25 mcg of melatonin (that's 15,000 nanograms). Some foods contain comparable doses of melatonin. The record holders for this indicator are cherries and cherries, dates, walnuts, mustard seeds, oatmeal, pearl barley, buckwheat and rice cereals, millet. Of course, rarely any of us have dinner with porridge, but if insomnia confidently declares itself, why not try it? To make the effect one hundred percent, season it with nuts and dried fruits.
Nuts
Tryptophan deficiency also dramatically impairs sleep quality. Bearing in mind that this amino acid is a precursor of the hormone of joy and pleasure serotonin, we inform you that regular "refueling" with tryptophan - it is found in nuts (walnuts and pine nuts, cashews, peanuts, almonds), as well as in cheese, turkey, seafood and nut - will improve not only the night's rest, but also the mood.
"Mineral" products
We are sure you did not think that zinc, magnesium, calcium, iron and iodine are not only elements of the periodic table, but also minerals important for sleep. Let's explain why. Magnesium protects against stress, helps to relax and get rid of obsessive thoughts (often it is they that prevent us from falling asleep quickly and calmly). Take note: Magnesium is found in green vegetables, bananas, and almonds. Zinc is also badly needed by the body in stressful situations. Flax seeds, sprouted wheat, mussels are its main source products. Calciumwe need it for normal muscle contraction (as well as strong bones and teeth), but this is not its only important function: it also helps the formation of melatonin, the sleep hormone. Therefore, a lack of calcium can contribute not only to seizures and tics, but also insomnia. Therefore, we have a snack at night looking with cottage cheese or green salad flavored with sesame seeds.
Eating can also impair sleep quality. The most harmful foods that interfere with sleep are caffeine, alcohol and fast carbohydrates.
A sufficient amount of iron in the body will relieve discomfort in the legs before falling asleep (admit, you, too, at least once could not fall asleep because “there was nowhere to put them”?). The main source of iron in food is red meat. We do not urge you to eat steaks in bed, but we are campaigning to arrange a meat feast 2-3 hours before bedtime a couple of times a week. Another essential mineral for sleep is iodine, which supports normal thyroid function. Its cumulative effect "works" for the long term (protects against snoring and again from the syndrome of "restless legs"), so everything is simple - to prevent iodine deficiency, replace ordinary salt with iodized salt.
"Yellow" fruits (pineapple, banana, citrus)
A little more about melatonin. In Thailand's Khon Kaen University, a study was conducted: 30 people ate one of six fruits for one week. Before and after the experiment, each participant was measured for urine 6-sulfatoxymelatonin aMT6s, an indicator that reflects blood melatonin levels. It turned out that tropical fruits can influence the production of their own melatonin, with pineapple, banana and orange being the record holders. According to the results of the conducted research, pineapples increase the level of their own melatonin by 226%, bananas - by 180%, oranges - by 47%.
Cherries
According to a study by the University of Pennsylvania, cherry juice is incredibly beneficial for sleep: if you drink a glass before bed for one week, the time of "Morpheus hugs" increases by 34 minutes due to almost instant falling asleep, and sleep efficiency increases by 5-6%.
Lettuce salad
The well-known popular salad contains latucarium, a substance that has sedative properties and is close to opium in action (do not be alarmed - its effect is much less pronounced and does not cause addiction, but it helps to fall asleep perfectly).
Herbal teas
Several studies have noted that chamomile tea can increase glycine levels, which can help relax muscles. And Australian scientists have noted an improvement in the quality of sleep when drinking passionfruit tea an hour before bedtime: they linked this effect to the action of alkaloids in the tea, which calm the nervous system.
Expert:
Elena Tsareva
Photo: Getty Images
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