Improve Your Sleep, Eat These Foods!

Are you having trouble sleeping? Depending on what’s keeping you awake, specific foods can help:

For example: If you tend to wake up during the night, and can’t fall back asleep, try citrus. It’s packed with vitamin C, which cuts production of the stress hormone adrenaline. And just one orange, half a grapefruit, or two mandarin tangerines a day can help you sleep an extra 60 minutes at night.

Next: Do you keep waking up to use the bathroom? Eat more almonds! They’re packed with magnesium. And research at UCLA found that mineral helps relax the muscles controlling the bladder and urethra, so they’re less likely to spasm and wake you up as your bladder fills. 30 raw or dry-roasted almonds a day gives you 100 milligrams of magnesium. That can cut your bathroom wakeups in half.

Finally: If you can’t shut off your brain, and end up tossing and turning for hours, start eating oatmeal! The nutrients in oats, including beta-glucans, help kick-start the production of GABA. That’s a calming neurotransmitter that soothes a hyper brain, helps you fall asleep faster, and helps you stay in the deepest, most-restorative phase of sleep. Just a‑cup a day of oatmeal can cut your risk of an overactive brain – and restless sleep – in half, within one week.