Vitamins and minerals, as well as a regular exercise will help you sleep better at night. Along with these two important aspects is diet. What you eat–and when you eat–play a big role in how you sleep.
• Diet
When your health is good, your overall outlook on life is vastly improved. Your body works well and feels well. You can maintain a heavy, strict schedule without becoming overly exhausted. Your energy levels are high. Your mood is positive and upbeat. So many factors are affected by a properly maintained diet, along with a dose of exercise. While diet and exercise are far from being the cure all for every ailment nor an absolute guarantee of perfectly slept nights, but your chances for health problems and sleep issues is greatly lowered.
A healthy diet consists of a proper balance of fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, and fats. The less processed food and the higher number of fresh or natural products, the better the food quality and the more nutrients you will receive. Simply changing your diet to more homemade, natural foods may result in your sleep improving.
If you are unsure exactly what foods you should be eating, and in what amounts, talk to your doctor. He can give you some guidelines, or recommend a dietician who would be helpful to address any diet question you may have.
Plan your meals so that they do not fall too closely to your bed time. If you try to go to sleep on a full stomach, regardless of how well you ate, your body will then be focusing on digesting the food rather than letting you rest. Eating too much too soon before bed can cause you to be sleepy and tempt you to take a nap in the evening, a sure way to corrode your nighttime sleeping hours away. Eating too little too early can also make you unreasonably hungry by bed time. The hunger pangs will then either keep you awake or you will be tempted to gorge yourself on (often) unhealthy snacks right before going to sleep. Instead, try to play your final meal about four hours before bed. Do not make supper your heaviest meal of the day.
Get enough water to drink during the day. This will not only help your body function well in general, but it will keep you from waking up in the middle of the night thirsty. Just make sure that you drink the water during the day and avoid drinking much before bed. Otherwise, you will be up in the middle of the night visiting the bathroom.
If you are one who simply cannot fall asleep without a quick snack before, plan out some healthy, bedtime ideas which are simple to whip together and will help you relax you into your sleep time. Warm milk, mixed with a dash of vanilla and a bit of honey, is a cozy drink to have. Popcorn also encourages sleep. Pop a bag of low-fat popcorn and enjoy eating it while you read a book or listen to quiet music.
