Best Foods to Induce Sleeping

[MastaM]

What are the best foods to help you go to sleep at night? Also, is carbs or proteins more important to making you go to sleep at night? Thank you all in advance.

[Reman]

High glycemic carbs. They have been shown to help.

Study - http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/2/426

''We showed that a carbohydrate-based high-GI meal resulted in a significant shortening of SOL in healthy sleepers compared with a low-GI meal and was most effective when consumed 4 h before bedtime''.

[ELDRAW44]

Bananas are supposed to be very good and any dairy foods.

[VTRunner]

Originally Posted by Reman

High glycemic carbs. They have been shown to help.

Study - http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/2/426

''We showed that a carbohydrate-based high-GI meal resulted in a significant shortening of SOL in healthy sleepers compared with a low-GI meal and was most effective when consumed 4 h before bedtime''.

In a word, NO. And he's talking about right before bed, not 4 hours before. Please stop posting retarded studies that make no since at all.

I would say that before bed protein and fats are the most important as well as slow digesting carbohydrates. They stay with you through the night and wont raise your blood sugar, which would definitely keep you awake. As far as foods that make you actually feel sleepy, well I'd say that anything warm, especially warm milk, would help you feel tired. But definitely any fat or protein sources. They digest slowly and give you a feeling of satiety, which will help you fall asleep. They also stay with you throughout the night so you dont wake up in the middle of the night hungry.

[gbardahl]

Turkey

[MikeD4386]

Originally Posted by gbardahl

Turkey

this and milk.

Oh man, milk has casein too, it's almost like it's made for it.

[GermanBarbarian]

Originally Posted by ELDRAW44

Bananas are supposed to be very good and any dairy foods.

Dairy foods if they are high in fats are supposed to be good. Low fat dairy is supposed to stimulate the mind. Carbs are definitely the most important for getting good sleep at night. Honey specifically being ace for pre-bed.

[Cloze]

Originally Posted by VTRunner

I would say that before bed protein and fats are the most important as well as slow digesting carbohydrates. They stay with you through the night and wont raise your blood sugar, which would definitely keep you awake. As far as foods that make you actually feel sleepy, well I'd say that anything warm, especially warm milk, would help you feel tired. But definitely any fat or protein sources. They digest slowly and give you a feeling of satiety, which will help you fall asleep. They also stay with you throughout the night so you dont wake up in the middle of the night hungry.

Yeah I used to drink warm milk everyday to help me sleep. Now I'm drinking a protein shake tho...

Noob question, can I mix the protein powder with warm (when I mean warm it's almost burning my hand) milk?

[yzrider400f]

Originally Posted by gbardahl

Turkey

no.

if you're referring to tryptophan inducing drowsiness, then no. that is a myth

[VTRunner]

Originally Posted by Cloze

Yeah I used to drink warm milk everyday to help me sleep. Now I'm drinking a protein shake tho...

Noob question, can I mix the protein powder with warm (when I mean warm it's almost burning my hand) milk?

I wouldn't add it right away after you heat it up. I'd let it cool a bit first and then add the protein. All proteins denature at a certain specific temperature. I don't know exactly what it is for whey, but i'd let it cool a bit first just to be safe. Its perfectly fine to use it warm though.

[in10city]

Originally Posted by VTRunner

I wouldn't add it right away after you heat it up. I'd let it cool a bit first and then add the protein. All proteins denature at a certain specific temperature. I don't know exactly what it is for whey, but i'd let it cool a bit first just to be safe. Its perfectly fine to use it warm though.

Whether or not the whey denatures a bit is irrelevant. I would be more concerned about the effects on the milk if anything.

---> http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpo...51&postcount=5

[GermanBarbarian]

Originally Posted by GermanBarbarian

Dairy foods if they are high in fats are supposed to be good. Low fat dairy is supposed to stimulate the mind. Carbs are definitely the most important for getting good sleep at night. Honey specifically being ace for pre-bed.

Jean Carper: The Food Pharmacy (hardback book) pgs. 231-232
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Pharmacy-.../dp/0671699830

"This folklore, calling for a glass of warm milk to bring on sleep, is dead wrong. At first it seemed scientifically sound. An amino acid in milk called tryptophan, when tested in high doses, at least one gram, helps induce sleep in some mild insomniacs. (A glass of milk contains about one tenth of a gram of tryptophan.) This led to the mistaken assumption that tryptophan makes milk a mild sedative. But not so, just the opposite. Milk -at least non-fat milk- perks up brain chemicals.

According to Drs. Richard and Judith Wurtman, pioneers in food-brain research at MIT, it is one of nature's minor conundrums that drinking milk, which contains tryptophan, does not get sleep-inducing tryptophan into the brain. Indeed, after drinking milk tryptophan levels in the brain tend to decrease. That happens because, in the fight to get into the brain, the tiny amounts of tryptophan in milk are crowded out by more plentiful amino acid chemicals in milk. It's strange but true that eating sugar, which has no tryptophan, releases more of the calming chemical into the brain because of complicated battles over which molecules get through the brain barrier.

In any event, milk, namely skim milk or low-fat milk, actually stirs up your mental energy instead of putting it to sleep. Milk delivers tyrosine to the brain, which in turn triggers production of dopamine and norepinephrine, stimulating you to think more quickly and accurately. Whole milk, because of the fat content, tends to drag your brain's mental acuity down.

As little as half a cup of skim milk or low-fat milk can rev up your brain chemicals, according to Dr. Judith Wurtman. But if your brain is saturated with energy chemicals, drinking more milk will not further stimulate alertness chemicals, although it will provide a steady supply to keep you "up." "

[Reman]

Originally Posted by VTRunner

In a word, NO. And he's talking about right before bed, not 4 hours before. Please stop posting retarded studies that make no since at all.

I would say that before bed protein and fats are the most important as well as slow digesting carbohydrates. They stay with you through the night and wont raise your blood sugar, which would definitely keep you awake. As far as foods that make you actually feel sleepy, well I'd say that anything warm, especially warm milk, would help you feel tired. But definitely any fat or protein sources. They digest slowly and give you a feeling of satiety, which will help you fall asleep. They also stay with you throughout the night so you dont wake up in the middle of the night hungry.

Come on man . Tell me why not ?

The blood sugar is likely the thing why high GI will help - Insulin goes up > BCAA go down, tryptofan goes up and flows to brain > serotonin is secreted.

And in this study the high GI 1 hour before was more effective than low GI 4 hours before - http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/85/2/426/T1

But on the other hand REM sleep was clearly highest in low GI. And of course melatonin will probably help better than high GI carbs before bed. And if high GI meals before bed cause you wake up in the middle of the night, then they obviously should be avoided. In this study, though, high GI 1 hour before made subjects sleep more than high GI 4 hours before bed and they slept more than low GI 4 hours before bed.

[TaoistWarrior]

The warm milk theory has more to do with the temperature than the amino content of the food itself. If you drink a warm (non-stimulant) beverage before bed, it will raise your body temperature some. The theory goes it will trigger pro-sleep mechanisms, since in a typical sleep pattern, the body temperature drops. Although it's personally never worked for me.

Melatonin, although not a food, works like a charm. So does GABA.

You can try chamomile, skullcap, valerian root also.

[SeaHawk22]

Originally Posted by yzrider400f

no.

if you're referring to tryptophan inducing drowsiness, then no. that is a myth

x2 there is more tryptophan in chicken than turkey..

[crochele]

jerk chicken + rice and peas, will definitely give you the itis.