Hacking your sleep: The safe way

In our time and age the importance of sleep often goes unnoticed. But it is something that affects all aspects of our daily life – appetite,mood,energy levels,happiness. The average individual sleeps for 5-6 hours daily which may be satisfactory if the quality of sleep is good. There are several stages of sleep, out of which the REM sleep is the most important-it is the stage where the body repairs itself at maximum potential, hormonal balances are restored. Putting it in a nutshell, the more REM sleep you get the better. In this article I am going to give you a list of food items and health supplements that will help you get a good night’s rest and improve the overall quality of your sleep.

Food items for good sleep:

1. Almonds and walnuts:

These nuts are an excellent source of nutrition with 32% of your daily needs of magnesium and 17% for riboflavin. Magnesium helps with getting into REM faster,improving sleep quality and reducing inflammation.

2. Cottage cheese:

Contains a significant amount of casein protein which is a slow digesting protein. Consuming this before bed will ensure a slow and steady release of energy beneficial for staying asleep. Also contains traces of tryptophan.

3. Turkey:

It has been known to promote sleepiness because of presence of tryptophan which increases the production of melatonin, a sleep regulating hormone. It also contains a good amount of protein which has been associated with better sleep quality.

Health Supplements:

1. Chamomile tea:

A very popular herbal tea known to contain a lot of antioxidants. It contains apigenin, an antioxidant that binds to certain receptors in your brain to promote sleepiness and reduce insomnia.

2. 5-HTP:

5-hydroxytryptophan produces serotonin which is converted to sleep-regulating hormone melatonin. Thus, supplementing with this will help improve the quality of your sleep but daily usage over a long period of time( more than a month) is not recommended.

3. ZMA:

It contains zinc monomethionine, magnesium aspartate and vitamin B6. This combination improves sleep quality. Magnesium activates the parasympathetic nervous system responsible for the body feeling calm and relaxed. So it helps getting the body into REM sleep faster.