The best bedtime snacks aren’t eaten too late, aren’t too heavy and contain tryptophan, an amino acid that acts like a bit of a sedative, plus enough carbs to make them work efficiently. Serotonin and melatonin -rich foods are soothing and will help you snooze, too.   Bedtime Snacks radio.

Bananas make a fabulous bedtime snack because they contain melatonin and serotonin AND magnesium, which is a muscle relaxant. Have a bowl of sliced bananas with milk and you’ll be halfway to dreamland because milk contains tryptophan and calcium. Calcium helps the brain to use the tryptophan. Are you getting sleepy?

Chamomile tea. Chamomile is in all the bedtime tea blends, like Celestial Seasons Sleepytime tea. It’s sedating effect helps calm restless minds and bodies and slowly sipping a warm cup of tea is just soothing in and of itself. If you drizzle a little honey in that chamomile tea, that little bit of glucose tells your brain to turn off the neurotransmitters linked to alertness. Of course, don’t add too much or the opposite will occur!

A bowl of oatmeal drizzled with honey and served with milk is another good bedtime snack. The oats are a good source of melatonin, the milk has the tryptophan and the bit of glucose in the honey shuts down those alertness neurotransmitters. How about a bowl of granola made with oats and almonds. The almonds have more of that magical tryptophan plus some muscle-relaxing magnesium. Or you could have an oatmeal raisin cookie and a glass of milk. Yawn….

A slice of whole-wheat toast with a little honey will release insulin, which helps tryptophan get to your brain, where it’s converted to serotonin which in turns tells your body that it’s time to sleep. See how easy this is?

This may sound a bit heavy for a bedtime snack but turkey is the king of tryptophan. You know how sleepy you get after Thanksgiving dinner? That’s the turkey talking. But here’s a tip- tryptophan works best when you aren’t stuffed and when it can have some carbs to work with. So an open faced turkey sandwich with a small glass of milk will send you to dreamland, not to the gym. Sweet dreams.