Do you have problem falling asleep, or toss and turn in the middle of the every night ? Awaken very early, or find yourself not feeling rejuvenated in the morning? You are not alone: many people struggle with falling and staying asleep.
What does food have to do with sleep? Our nutritional status and the food we eat always influence our sleep. Luckily, some foods actively aid falling asleep and staying asleep.
They relax tense muscles, quiet buzzing minds, and/or get calming, sleep-inducing hormones - serotonin and melatonin - flowing.
The following foods containing trytophan that aid sleep are:
- Milk and cheese (dairy foods). Your mother was right after all to give you a cup of warm 
milk before sending you off to bed. Cheese like Cheddar, Gruyere and Swiss are especially rich in tryptophan
- Turkey. Turkey contains tryptophan. To get the most from the tryptophan in turkey, eat a slice of white turkey meat on a slice of whole-wheat bread in the middle of the evening.
- Oatmeal and cherries both contain a substance called melatonin. Melatonin is a naturally occurring substance in the body that regulates sleep. So adding additional melatonin on top of what you naturally produce seems to help many people sleep well.
- Bananas. They are practically a sleeping pill in a peel. In addition to a bit of soothing 
melatonin and serotonin, bananas contain magnesium, a muscle relaxant. Bananas will also contribute to release tryptophan and serotonin.
- Chamomile Tea has a mild sedative effect when you consume it. This has to do with certain herbs that are present in it.
- Whole-wheat bread. A piece of toast with your tea and honey will release insulin, which helps tryptophan get to your brain, where it’s converted to serotonin and quietly murmurs “time to sleep.”
- 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.
- Flaxseeds. When life goes awry and feeling down is keeping you up, trysprinkling 2 tablespoons of these healthy little seeds on your bedtime oatmeal. They are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a natural mood lifter.
This is the basic main of what I know helps a person to sleep better. What you should avoid is eating very heavy meals right before bedtime or fatty meals. Fatty meals from greasy or fried types of foods will create havoc with your digestive system, causing your stomach to grumble and may even cause you acid reflux problems at night. Other foods that can create a problem both with acid reflux and digestion are those foods that are spicy, and seasoned very heavily.
