Lately I've had a lot of sleeping problems, couldn't get a wink of sleep until 6 am in the morning. I usually have this tendency to solve my own health problems, added to that I'm a medical student and as they say, 'Doctor, heal thyself', I wanted to solve this myself. To tell you, I have a pretty erratic lifestyle but yet couldn't find the cause, so I went back to the roots and so I found out that my diet was the devil.My diet isn't planned at all, I eat at odd times, eat a lot of junk food with the misconception that I'm a young fella and any sort of food I eat should go down well with me. Alas, it wasn't meant to be and in the end I had to face this dreadful problem.
I sought to bring about a dramatic change in my diet, went through a lot of books, looked up on the internet and found out that there are actually certain foods which can make you sleep better. On the contrary, there are foods that can activate your brain. They are called Sleepers and Wakers respectively.
Foods that contain the amino acid Tryptophan are sleep-inducing foods. This amino acid serves as a precursor for the production of Serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that can reduce the activity of the brain and induce sleep. Melatonin too is another neurotransmitter that is formed from tryptophan, which has sleep inducing property. This hormone usually controls the sleep-wake cycle.
Tyrosine has the opposite effect on the brain, it perks up the activity of the brain and keeps you awake for a longer time. Just remember this, a high-carbohydrate diet has more tryptophan and helps you sleep better and a high-protein diet keeps you awake for a longer time due to more tyrosine intake.
Sleep-Inducing Foods
- Calcium containing foods like milk, yogurt, cheese, orange juice, soy beverages
- All dairy products
- Egg yolk
- Cashew
- Turkey and Pork chops
- Beef
- Almonds
- Bananas and Potatoes
- Oatmeal and White Rice
Sleep-Delaying Foods/Awakening Foods
- Soy Products
- Sandwiches
- Peanuts
- Coffee
- Energy drinks and Protein rich drinks
- Apples
