Cooking Up A Sleep-Friendly Diet

Yes, magnesium and calcium and vitamins etc. are important but the way NOT to get them is through the purchase of supermarket foods that feature them, like ones that say "added calcium" or "25% more fiber" or other specific ingredient claims: AVOID almost all foods that are in a box, can or some kind of package in supermarkets; they're loaded with sugar and chemicals. Eat only real food, whole foods, NOT manufactured foods. Doing that is far more important than buying food for a single ingredient. Far more important! Eat lots of fresh vegetables and some fruits and nuts and whole grains, avoid big food brands. Even supermarket delis (e.g. Safeway) should be avoided because of the added sugar in many of those offerings like tuna salad and chicken salad. Yes! Safeway adds sugar to its tuna salad! Yes, seek magnesium, calcium etc. but get it naturally through whole, fresh and preferably organic foods.

Love this article. Great tips! Here are my recent tips on getting your tweens and teens back to sleep for back to school! http://jessicadrummond.com/2012/08/getting-back-to-sleep-for-back-to-school/

Sour cherries are one of the best sources of melatonin - it is even available in liquid extracts.  The use of cherries was discovered by a doctor looking for treatments to gout.  The anti-inflammation effect of melatonin concentrated in sour cherries proved to be one of the most reliable sources, and can be used without creating other dietary problems.

Physical exercise is a natural sleeping booster.

Very true. "Black-out" curtains are a must, as well.

I think also that what you eat in the morning, and how much energy it gives you, is just as important, getting off to a good start in the AM will largely direct how your day goes, and if you're energetic, refreshed, and able to function well both mentally and physically when it counts, when the sun's in the sky and opportunity's out there, then when you do get home and get ready to settle down you won't be mourning missed opportunities and generally feeling miserable and agitated. Eat a decent evening meal, but not too much, and lose the coffee after 5PM. For those of us that've lived around the clock, shift work, or military service, it's easy to chomp that next snack, pound another 32oz. of hot black goodness, and reset the clothespins on the eyelids, and keep going for another 5 hours or more, but you start paying for that action physically as you age, and it can be a direct path to an early grave. Water, juice, green leafies, maintain a good body weight, and don't cheat yourself on Z's. Insomnia's as much a bad habit, as it is anything else, and we live, and literally die, by our habits. Treat your body right, it's the only one you're going to get.

I sleep better when I sleep less.

Recent research shows that dairy products are not good for us. See the documentary "Forks over Knives".

I eat super healthy but give me something to worry about and solve and I'm up at 5:00 a.m. Today is a perfect example ! It is not enough sleep to get me through the day. I'm going to try the cherry juice.

Dear Michael, I often dream of eating hamburgers... Does that mean I'm Wimpy?

Advocating proper foods then advocating supplements sends a contradictory message. Supplements are not nearly as effective as food and that should be warned in this context to avoid improper diets

Vitamin D is so important that Europeans evolved to become white in only 20,000 years. Those with dark skin can't get enough vitamin D from the sun, away from the equator. The lighter skinned children survived, the darker did not, and very soon in evolutionary terms Europeans turned white. (Most came from North Africa).The 400 IU daily requirement for vitamin D was set back in 1929, and it's wrong. We need about 2000 IU, over an hour of daily sun, not 15 minutes. And those with dark skin need much more. Sunblock your hands, face and neck, but not the rest. We need sunlight exposure, lack of sun kills.

"On the subject of melatonin: There are very few foods that contain melatonin and that can therefore provide the body with a natural source of this important hormone. Melatonin supplements are readily available, but don't work the same way in the body that a naturally produced or derived melatonin will." The body produces melatonin just fine... if you sleep in true darkness. Even foods that have or produce melatonin will do little to no good if people sleep in rooms that have lights on or if there is stray/extraneous light shining in them from outside. The body produces very little melatonin even at low light levels (regardless of what foods you eat). We need darkness to sleep, but in Western civilizations we are doing more and more to light up the night, it seems, without questioning the negative consequences. Research done by several doctors (David Blask, George Brainard) has recently shown that even low amounts of light can disrupt circadian rhythm cycles and correlates to higher incidences of breast and prostate cancers. Eat all the right foods you want; but if you're not sleeping in the dark, that melatonin won't ever kick in to help you sleep better. I like the rest of the suggestions from a diet perspective, though it might as well read, "Eat healthy foods." :-)