Nutrition tips towards dreamland

Sleeping advice

We often attribute feeling tired to a lack of sleep, but we forget the impact of our eating habits. Unhealthy food can negatively affect the quality of our sleep, but are there any foods that promote our sleep quality?

It is said sometimes that proteins and amino acids determine the quality of your life. It is, therefore, no coincidence that the amino acid tryptophan is necessary for the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone.

Feel free to try yoghurt, bananas, turkey or nuts

Annelies Smolders, clinical psychologist, explains: “You can find it, for example, in milk, yoghurt, bananas, turkey and nuts. But that does not mean that a handful of peanuts is a panacea for falling asleep immediately. It’s smart, though, to eat tryptophan-rich foods regularly to give your biorhythm a helping hand. Many night owls don’t eat breakfast, for example, because they cannot ingest anything that early. I still recommend that they drink a glass of milk in the morning though.”

Milk for everyone?

Milk not only contains tryptophan, but also vitamin B2. A recent study at Oxford University in England shows that vitamin B2 has sleep-inducing effects.  Grandma's saying of drinking a warm cup of milk with honey before going to sleep therefore turns out to be a golden tip! Vitamin B2 can also be found in other dairy products, broccoli, asparagus, spinach, bread and cold cuts, among others. 

Evening rituals

Incorporating these foods into your evening rituals can also have a beneficial effect on your sleep. When you drink a cup of warm milk every night before bed, you train your brain to associate it with sleep. The warm drink also helps your pores to open up, allowing you to release body heat more easily and also fall asleep faster.

Sources: Knack | Oxford Sleep Research Society