Foods that help your sleep AND mental health
This saying doesn't apply only when talking about how having too many tangerines can make one's skin orangey. It also prefaces how what we eat besets our everyday life. What you eat can make you cheery, or anxious, or glazed (take intoxicants for example). Because our food really does nourish us.
Nourish Verb
Nour-ish | \ nar-ish
1. Provide with substances necessary for growth, health and good condition,
2. Keep (a feeling or belief) in one's mind, typically for a long time,
3. Bring up,
4. Maintain. (Google & Meriam Webster)
So, what we eat doesn't only provide us nutritions, but it also affects how we feel and the state of our mind. It brings us up as a whole. Our body's systems are interlinked with what we feed ourselves as they're interlinked with one another. That's why, our regular food can be troubling important processes (e.g. Sleep) or our long-term moods. Or favoring 'em. We can take coffee for example, it's likely to give us sleeping problems with added anxiety; while it has its own benefits, too.
Therefore, some foods help us sleep better and some help us feel better. And thankfully, some do both! So finally, I'm bringing you all today, a list of foods that are good for our sleep and mental health. So let's dive in!
Almond
Banana
Blackberry
Blueberry
Beetroot
Cherry
Chia seed(s)
Cheese
Chickpea
Corn
Dark chocolate
Egg
Flaxseed
Grape
Grapefruit
Herring
Honey
Kale
Lettuce
Mango
Mackerel
Mussle(s)
Milk (warm)
Olive (& oil)
Orange
Prawn
Pomegranate
Pumpkin seed(s)
Poppy seed(s)
Quinoa
Rolled oats
Rice
Raspberry
Strawberry
Sunflower seed(s)
Spinach
Sesame (seeds & oil)
Sardine
Seaweed
Tomatoe
Tuna
Trout
Tart cherry
Turkey
Walnut
Watercress
Yogurt
And all these come with a bonus - healthier skin!
Key : Whole grains, nuts, fatty fishes, cold water seafood, low-fat dairies, greens, seeds, berries & cherries. (Source: Just trust me bro)
@cheerfulIceCream
Very nice list!
This reminds me to make some fruity yogurt + nuts salad ❤️❤️❤️🎉🎉🎉
@kindLemonade
Thanks lem!! 🌻
Please share your fruity yogurt. ;-;
I brought yogurt today 👅
@cheerfulIceCream
@cheerfulIceCream
Thank you for the list. I am interested in knowing how is corn contributing to good mental health/sleep?
@Hope
Hi hope! Thanks for asking the question!🙂
Corn is high in carbs, carbohydrates indirectly stimulate our body to produce this amino acid named tryptophan which our body uses produce melatonin & serotonin. Melatonin aids our sleep while serotonin lifts our mood.
Corn is also high in magnesium & potassium; two minerals that respectfully help our mind to become more peaceful, create a resting state and help calming anxiety.
@cheerfulIceCream
Ice, this looks like an amazing list! Thanks for sharing with us 💜
And I wasn't able to keep myself from this interesting discussion on corn and its contribution to good mental health/sleep, my apologies for sneaking in haha.
Our body actually cannot produce tryptophan, one of the 9 essential amino acids. But consuming tryptophan-rich food can lead to the production of serotonin and melatonin through an amazing biochemical process. Interesting, right? 😮 Carbs, on the other hand, increase insulin production which leads to a decrease in the competing amino acids and that results in a great influx of tryptophan to the brain where the serotonin and melatonin production happens. But there's an opposing effect on the tryptophan by increased insulin too! So the net influx of tryptophan at the end of the day is very minimal. The pathway is full of plot twists as I know it xD 💜
This is the first time I understood biochemistry a bit lmao, so thank you 😭 @amazingNutella24
@theriverissinging
I love biochemistry so i enjoyed the post. xD
@amazingNutella24
Thanks for joining the discussion nut! 🙂
You got it right, corn doesn't directly stimulate the tryptophan production. But I didn’t know that it's the influx and not exactly tryptophan production stimulation that happens and while writing about it I didn’t keep the fact that our body can't produce tryptophan so thank you so much for correcting AND enlightening me! Yayy💜💜🌷
@cheerfulIceCream
Share the source 😭 (so that I could read up more on it).
@theriverissinging
No source on the Internet has both sleep inducing and mental health aiding foods listed together so the "sources" are very scattered and I used some bookish knowledge too. 😭😭
@cheerfulIceCream
Ah okay, that makes sense! Thanks for compiling the list that helps with both sleep and mental health. <3
@theriverissinging
My pleasure! 😊
@cheerfulIcecream
Thanks for sharing this colourful and lovely list.
@caringHope1976
Thank you too! 😊
@cheerfulIceCream Thank you for sharing this! It made me hungry just reading it.
@MidwesternCalmSeeker
You're welcome and same lol. 🌻🐛
@cheerfulIceCream hey there! i normaly don't click on notifications for the forums, but when i saw this title i definitely wanted to take a look! thanks so much for comprising this huge list! it surprised me how one of the items was "milk (warm)" i wonder if it's better for you warm than cold! anyway, thanks so much for this lovely post! take care!
@enchantedlove
I'm glad the topic got you intrigued. 😌
Our body tends to find warmer beverages more comforting in comparison to colder beverages, that's why warm milk is to work better. A little warmth goes a long way! But yes, warming is not mandatory ahah.
You can read more about it here ^-^
https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/oct/28/hot-drinks-science-tasting-notes
@cheerfulIceCream
Hi IceCream! 
again, *high fives* milk has a chemical called triptophan and it can help to induce sleep. Warming the milk can help to release it more easily. Triptophan is also a chemcical found in turkey.
@SparkyGizmo
You're right about that!
I didn't think about the release while writing. 😂
Thank you so much for this list! It's informative
Thank you for the list! @cheerfulIceCream
@HopieRemi
I'm invited for lunch at your place.
Ohh... u are right food really affects your entire physique and thanks helping ppl know importance of diet 😊 and food
@cheerfulIceCream
Hi Icecream! *high fives* on the great post.
For me I find this to be truly brilliant and is even dipping the toe in the water for Dr. Amens research on food, nutrition, brain function and mental health. I have found his research and brain imaging to be fascinating.
@SparkyGizmo
Hi Giz! Thank you so much. 😃💜
Doctor Amen, oooooo. I like how we're discussing so much science under this thread. 😌
Will look up Dr. Amen now! 🙂