No doubt you ever heard the saying, “you are what you eat”? Surprisingly, it’s true. Your diet has a direct influence on your health, the way you feel and, you guessed it — how well you sleep. One all natural sleep aid is to eat the right kind of foods as part of the battle and is surprisingly easy to follow.

While it may seem like a daunting task to ensure you’re following a diet that will help rather than hinder your sleep, but it’s not that difficult. However, there are so many people who turn to OTC sleep aids whether they are prescribed sleeping medications or not to help them fall asleep each night. It stands to reason that many must believe that taking a pill is easier than trying to correct the actual source of the problem.

Unfortunately, once you start to rely on sleeping pills, your body becomes tolerant of them and they begin to be inefficient. Also, the reality is that it’s common to wake from these drugs feeling pretty groggy for the rest of the morning. It’s definitely not that refreshed feeling you were after.

The all natural sleep aid is to eat the right foods to help you sleep naturally without the need for pills. And there’s an added benefit to choosing a sleep-inducing diet… all of the foods are completely healthy and contribute to your overall health as well. They may even help you shed a couple of pounds if you’re carrying some excess weight. With no negative side effects and a few added bonuses, there’s no doubt that food is the way to go.

Go for foods that contain tryptophan as they are great for helping you feel sleepy. Turkey is probably the most well known for it but you can also find it in dairy products, beans and other protein containing foods. In addition, eating plenty of fruit, vegetable and whole grains will help you as well.

Don’t forget your walnuts! Eating a handful of melatonin rich walnuts a day will also help as melatonin is a naturally produced hormone in the body known to induce sleep.

Common sense probably tells you that it’s best to eat your main meal about three hours before bed. If you must have a snack, try just a glass of milk or a cracker but do avoid sugary foods and definitely caffeine drinks.

If you want to learn more ways to sleep naturally, check out this resource: