Insomnia, or the inability to sleep, is a fairly common sleep disorder that affects people due to a variety of reasons. Most people try to remedy this problem by taking sleeping pills or other kinds of medication. Little do they know that one of the best solutions for insomnia is to simply eat a well-balanced diet and avoid unhealthy foods.

In general, eating a full meal is a sure way of making people feel drowsy. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that tryptophan, an amino acid found in most proteins, triggers the increased production of serotonin and melatonin transmitters in the body. These, in turn, cause you to feel drowsy by relaxing your mind and helping you get some rest.

Tryptophan is actually a very common substance that is found in many different kinds of everyday food. If you have a problem with falling asleep at night, all you have to do is increase your intake of these tryptophan-rich foods and you will soon find yourself dozing off to a good night’s sleep.

Foods That Contain Tryptophan

• Eggs
• Meat, especially poultry
• Soy
• Nuts
• Beans
• Hummus
• Other protein-rich foods

As you can see, tryptophan is not that hard to come by since all of these are actually foods that you eat everyday. The only problem is that these foods that can make you sleepy also contain tyrosine, which is another kind of amino acid that makes you feel awake. So if you just continue with your regular diet, the clashing effects of these two amino acids will not have much bearing on your sleep patterns.

The trick is to eat other kinds of foods that will neutralize the effects of tyrosine while allowing the tryptophan to continue its action on your brain. Carbohydrates are the best choice for this purpose. However, make sure you don’t consume too much carbs either because this can raise insulin production to abnormally high levels, making you more unable to fall asleep at night.

Calcium is another kind of nutrient that can boost the effects of tryptophan. You can do this by increasing your consumption of dairy products like milk, which is also in fact a rich source of tryptophan.

When your mother told you to drink your warm milk so you can sleep better, it was actually true and not just a ploy to make you go to bed. So the next time you find yourself tossing and turning late into the night, try getting up and drinking a glass of warm milk. Within a few minutes, you will be able to fall asleep and not wake up until morning.

As you can see, there are a lot of other healthy options to make you sleep better besides just reaching for the bottle of sleeping pills. Furthermore, these sleeping medications may have side effects that you won’t notice straight away. They can even be addictive and make you dependent on medication just to take a short nap. Eating the right kinds of food is certainly the better way to get a good night’s sleep. Not only will you be able to sleep peacefully, but your overall health will show signs of improvement as well.