8 Foods to Eat That Promise A Blissful Sleep

While everyone knows to lay off the caffeine before bed, not that many people know what foods will help get you settled in for a deep snooze.

Can’t stop fidgeting before bed? Does your mind or body keep you awake well into the wee hours of the night? While everyone knows to lay off the caffeine before bed, not that many people know what foods will help get you settled in for a deep snooze.

Well, we’ve got you covered with eight natural sleep inducers to get you sawing logs and counting sheep in no time.

1. Warm Milk

blisssleep6 — I’ll take a cappuccino, foam-only, please. Photo: Kenny Louie / Flickr

While any dairy product will have a requisite blend of calcium and tryptophan that theoretically translates into magical sleepy times, the going belief here is that the act of drinking warm milk before bed has the added benefit of being an old wives’ tale, which makes for a promising placebo leading to a restful night.

2. Half Cup Of Rice

blisssleep8 — A spoonful of starches helps the energy go down! Image: Pixtabay

Specifically jasmine rice, but again any variety will do. By eating simple carbohydrates, you’re releasing insulin which induces a sugar crash as your body burns through the caloric energy of the rice, which should start to make you feel sleepy shortly after that. Enjoy!

3. Almonds

blisssleep2 — Think of it as a handful of sleep. Photo: Pixabay.com

Ditch the sleeping pills and pop a handful of almonds into your mouth. These little miracles come loaded with tryptophan and magnesium, both of which induce sleepiness and relax muscle function so you can start drifting off to dreamland.

4. Honey

blisssleep5 — The sweetest way to a good night’s rest. Photo: Pixabay.com

At its core, honey is pure glucose, but you don’t need to worry about a sugar crash here. Glucose tells your body to shut off production of orexin, which is a neurotransmitter closely linked with alertness. So essentially, honey chills you out.

If you mix warm milk with honey, you’ll find a healthy balance of carbs with protein to help induce the Zzz’s.

5. Cherries

blisssleep7 — I could get on board with this—especially if I can dip them in chocolate. Image: Pixtabay

Cherries are a reliable, natural source of melatonin, one of the major neurotransmitters that help promote sleep. Adding cherries to your diet will help regulate your sleeping pattern, making you tired at more constant intervals. As a bonus, they are also high in vitamins A and C.

6. Hummus

blisssleep9 — Creamy, delicious, and food coma inducing. Photo: Pixtabay

Hummus is another tryptophan-packed treat that will help you sail into the land of nod. Its calorie-dense recipe is also helpful to people who wake up hungry in the middle of the night, meaning putting this delicious spread into your regular snack cycle makes too much sense.

7. Bananas

blisssleep3 — Pretty a-peeling way to fall asleep, amirite? Photo: Pixabay.com

Thanks to potassium and magnesium (which act as muscle and nerve relaxers) bananas are an appealing choice to help you doze off before I write any more nauseating puns. The high levels of B6 in nanners also help turn tryptophan into serotonin, making you both relaxed and sleepy.

8. Turkey

blisssleep4 — “And here I thought we were just boring conversationalists.” Photo: Pixabay.com

While the level of tryptophan in turkey meat is usually grossly overstated, it does contain a healthy dose of the chemical that metabolizes into melatonin and serotonin. Just don’t use processed, cured cold cuts that contain tyramine, because it’ll produce the opposite effect, making you feel alert. And nobody wants that before bed.