Foods That Support Better Sleep 😴 | What to Eat for Deeper, Restorative Sleep

Hi, Coach Debbie here. Today I want to talk to you about getting better sleep. Our bodies need our sleep. It's very, very important. Even if we're doing a great job eating the right foods, if we're not allowing our body to recover, we, we just can't function. Sleep is so very important. So today I just wanted to mention a few foods that may help with better sleep, and hopefully we can stop waking up in the middle of the night if that's what's happening with you, or having trouble falling asleep at night. We always want to make sure we have a good bedtime routine, try to get off of all of our technology that we watch— our phones, our iPads, the television— If we can try to get off of those devices a good hour before we go to sleep, that is really, really important. But there are foods that help support our melatonin and that give us more magnesium, and magnesium helps to calm our central nervous system as well as melatonin. So some foods that naturally could support your sleep are tart cherries. They're great sources of melatonin. They can also help with your sleep-wake cycle. Kiwi, which is so good for you, packed with antioxidants, are very rich in serotonin, but they help to convert to melatonin. Almonds and walnuts, those are great as well. They contain magnesium, and they helped— the magnesium helps to relax your muscles, as I said, calm your central nervous system. And walnuts also do provide a small amount of melatonin as well. Fatty fish like salmon or sardines, high in vitamin D and omega-3s. These again help to regulate your serotonin levels support deeper sleep. Also, bananas— although bananas are very high in carbs, they do contain magnesium and potassium, which do help for muscle relaxation. But we don't want to eat some of these foods so close to bedtime. Now, what we do eat during the day does affect how we're going to sleep at night. So if you can include some of these foods during the day Hopefully that will also set your body for success for sleeping. Some drinks or teas that you could take in the evening to help would be chamomile tea. They kind of have a mild sedative, relaxing mood to provide or affect. Peppermint is really good for digestion, as well as ginger. So maybe a peppermint tea or a ginger tea might be helpful. Some foods that we need to avoid before bed would be caffeine. Now, some people can have caffeine maybe up to 3 o'clock in the afternoon, but for most people, if you have caffeine after 12 o'clock, that can cause a problem for you getting to sleep later in the day. It just depends on how well your body processes that caffeine. Alcohol— that glass of wine in the evening that you think is wine helping you wind down— well, it may help you to wind down and go to sleep, but you might find yourself not being able to sleep past 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning because it will wake you up. Also, The type of meals that you have at night— heavy, fatty meals late at night, or maybe a later dinner that you're having— also can have an effect on how you sleep at night. And of course, our sugary snack foods, which will make your blood sugar spike, and then sometime during the night it will take a nosedive, and when it does that, it will naturally wake you up. Now, some things we could do if you're noticing and you're doing all the right things but you're still waking up in the middle of the night might be to have maybe a scoop of nut or seed butter, maybe a tablespoon or so, just before you go to sleep, or maybe a very small protein shake. We don't want to overload our, our system, but maybe like a 4 or 5 ounce protein shake with maybe only, you know, half the amount of protein that you would normally use, and maybe throw a few, um, couple berries in there as well. And sometimes we have found with our clients that that seems to help keep them asleep and keeping that blood sugar from dropping. So I hope that these tips have been helpful for you, and I wish you all a very good night's sleep.