Magnesium is not only great for essential bodily functions like protein synthesis and muscle regeneration. It also promotes better sleep!
If you’re due for a better night of sleep, here are four magnesium-rich foods to incorporate into your daily diet.
Dark chocolate. Antioxidants and great sleep? Perfect! If you’re looking for a healthy dessert that will also help you doze off, just one ounce of dark chocolate has 64 milligrams of magnesium.
Bananas. This fruit gets a lot of publicity as a great source of potassium, but it also is high in magnesium. Both promote relaxation, so snack on some before bed.
Nuts and seeds. Most of your favourite nuts are also high in magnesium. Almonds contain 80 milligrams of magnesium per serving and pumpkin seeds have 168.
Chickpeas. Half a cup of chickpeas has 115 milligrams of magnesium, making them a great source of sleep-promoting snacks.
Fancy a late snack? To give your body just what it needs to sleep well, here's a couple of approved bed-time snacks from sleep specialist Michael J. Breus, Ph.D.
Tart cherries: The beauty of tart cherries is that they are rich in melatonin, which has been shown to improve sleep quality and sleep duration. In a randomized, double-blind, pilot study, researchers found that tart cherry juice was equally or more effective at managing insomnia than both valerian and melatonin products.
Avocado on a rice cake: While carbs can get you feeling sleepy before bed, that doesn’t mean you should enjoy a late-night bowl of pasta. Instead, Breus says you should go for a snack that has about 70 percent whole, complex carbs and 30 percent of either fat or protein. He recommends cutting a couple of slices of avocado and putting it on a rice cake, or swap the avocado for a spoonful of almond butter if you’re in the mood for something sweeter.
More sleep enhancing ideas:
Sleep Date Night: On average, UK adults sleep six and a half hours a night - easily below the seven to eight hours that we need to function at our best. You’ve heard the reasons before (busy lives, bedroom phone use, yadda yadda, yawn yawn), but have you ever thought of having a Sleep Date Night to help redress the balance? More...