Daily Medical Records

Posts Tagged ‘tryptophan’

You could be one of many brands of sleeping pills that are available in pharmacies, but we advise you not to take them before trying natural remedies based on food. Indeed, taking sleeping pills long term can lead to headaches and possible addiction.

1) Drink warm milk before going to bed
For decades, scientists have analyzed this folk remedy, and implied that tryptophan, an amino acid that is found in milk (as well as other foods like turkey, lobster, spinach, bananas, etc.. ), could be responsible for its supposed soporific effects. Studies have shown that when the tryptophans are released in the brain, they produce serotonin (a neurotransmitter that stimulates the serenity). But when milk and other foods rich in tryptophan were tested, they failed to affect sleep patterns.

Foods containing tryptophan does not produce hypnotic effects like tryptophan pure fact. This is because other amino acids which are also found in these foods are a competition to get into the brain. Drink warm milk (with honey for example) at the time of going to bed could be very comforting, but no rigorous study has offered evidence that it increases production of serotonin sleep aid. Whatever happens, drinking warm milk before bedtime can help you sleep better, especially for the elderly, since it determines your mindset to prepare to sleep better (as if s ‘acting with a placebo).

2) Eat a healthy snack before going to bed or a dinner with high glycemic index
A small snack at bedtime can to curb hunger, a thief of sleep recognized. But eating carbohydrates glycemic index (GI) high, several hours before going to bed (dinner for example) may also help. Foods that have a glycemic index (GI) cause a large increase in higher rates of blood sugar and insulin than those with lower GI.

A U.S. study found that in 2009 when the sleepers who have no problem falling asleep taking a high carbohydrate dinner, with vegetables and tomato sauce with rice, they fall asleep significantly faster in ‘bedtime if dinner included rice jamin (which has a high GI) rather than long grain rice (which has a lower GI).

Although researchers are not sure yet why this sleep accelerated by eating high GI foods, they assume that larger amounts of insulin triggered by meals high glycemic index increase in the ratio of tryptophan on other amino acids in the blood, allowing more tryptophan (proportionately) to enter the brain. So keep foods with high glycemic index for dinner, when their side effects (sleepiness) becomes an advantage for people who have trouble falling asleep.

Speaking of dinner, you take your meals at times constant, do not overload your dinner, do not eat too spicy evening and dinner at least 2 hours before going to bed. Indeed, to sleep better, your stomach should be neither too full nor too empty. You digest it more difficult at night, whereas a turbulent digestion because of too much food or heartburn caused by excess of spices (like hunger) can make you wake up.

3) Drink herbal teas, herbal teas
The chamomile, lemon balm, hops, the flower of the Passion, etc.. are presented as teas and infusions with sleep-promoting properties. You will often find them in tea blends “to find sleep. Make sure you prepare teas or infusions for at least 20 minutes to get all benefits as simply soak a bag of chamomile in hot water for 5 minutes (for example) does not remove enough of herbal extract to obtain a advantage to the organism.

Although their effectiveness has not been proven by large studies, lots of experts do not doubt that drinking herbal teas or herbal teas can make some people sleep better. Drinking a hot liquid as a tea or infusion (as well as hot milk, see # 1 above) before going to bed can produce numbness in the generation of body heat.

But be careful, if you drink too much fluid in the moments before going to bed earlier, you may go back and make the toilet at night. A cup of tea, or hot tea at bedtime might be worth it … if you have a bladder that can hold (you do not have to wake you up at night).