The Best Foods to Eat Before…

Before going to bed: Rice cake with cheese

It’s smart to avoid eating large, heavy meals late in the evening—they can make you feel uncomfortably full and keep you up tossing and turning. But a light snack (no more than 200 calories) with the right mix of ingredients can help you get a better night’s rest. Among the best natural sedatives is tryptophan, one of the ingredients necessary for the body to make serotonin, a brain chemical that helps you feel calm and drowsy. The trick is to combine tryptophan-containing foods like turkey, milk, cheese, and eggs with carbohydrates, which help transport tryptophan into the brain, where it can make you sleepy. A plain rice cake (those are your carbs) with some low-fat cheese (that’s your tryptophan source) is the perfect sleep-inducing snack. Also, sip chamomile tea in the evening: This calming brew appears to act as a mild sedative and may help relieve muscle tension and ease anxiety before hitting the sack.