5 Foods that Cannot Help You to Sleep

Sleep Inducing Foods - Common Mistakes

"Getting enough sleep seems to be a challenge nowadays"

With the onset of cable TV, internet and video games nowadays, staying up late every night is quite easy while getting enough sleep seems to be a challenge. Even for grown ups, falling asleep become harder because of too much work, caring for the family, all the stuff that needs to be done around the house ... and so on.

People resort to many sleep inducing ways just to have the rest their bodies are longing. Unfortunately, these unproven methods seems to cause more problems than benefits that people are looking for. And some of these mistakes come from our food intakes. Let us see these 5 foods that cannot help you to sleep.

Common Mistakes

Warm Milk – Drinking warm milk at bedtime maybe comforting, however, it does not increase the promotion of sleep in contrast to a known folk remedy. Research had shown that when trytophan, an amino acid in milk known to have sleep-inducing effects, produces a serenity –boosting neurotransmitter called serotonin when released into the brain. But when milk was tested, it failed to affect sleep patterns, perhaps because other amino acids in it competed with trytophan to get into the brain.

Herbal Tea - Known for their sleep-promoting qualities, chamomile, lemon balm, hops and passionflower are used as “sleep formula” tea combinations. However, their effectiveness are not yet proven in clinical studies. Some experts say that these teas may work for some, and a warm liquid before bed may make you sleepy by generating body heat.

Caffeine - Most people thought coffee is a major source of caffeine (71 percent). However, there are other major sources of caffeine in our daily diet like soft drinks (16 percent), teas (12 percent) and even chocolate. Caffeine affects everyone differently, so if you’re sensitive it might be worth trying to cut down—or limit caffeine to the morning only. Our ability to eliminate caffeine in our body system decreases as we grow older. If we use to tolerate 4 cups of coffee daily when we were 20, we may need to limit or cut down with our coffee intake as we grow older.

Alcohol - Taking a glass of wine may help you fall asleep. Bu excessive use of alcohol cause a reverse effect and can make you wake up in the night. One theory is that alcohol suppresses the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep state that’s critical to a good night’s sleep. So, it is better that we drink moderately, if at all; avoid drinking within a few hours before going to sleep.

Sleep Supplements - A lot has been said regarding sleep formulas. According to a survey conducted a few years back, about 1.6 million people tried complementary or alternative therapies like these. Over half of them reported to have positive improvements with their insomnia problems. However, those glowing anecdotes haven’t been backed up by rigorous scientific study; and evaluations of most nutritional supplements have not shown any effects whatsoever. One word of advice, do not waste your money on sleep supplements until a rigorous scientific study has been made.

Do You know?

Dinners Rich in Carbohydrates – It is hard to sleep when you are hungry. But taking a light bedtime snack especially carbohydrates that are easily digested can help. Study shows a person tend to sleep faster at bedtime after eating dinner rich in carbohydrates of vegetables and tomato juice over high GI jasmine rice. It was speculated that meals with high-GI meals trigger greater amounts of insulin, which increased the ratio of tryptophan relative to other amino acids in the blood, allowing proportionately more to get into the brain and make people drowsy. You can try this one.