Changing your diet could be the key to catching zzz’s, says an article by Joy Bauer posted on msnbc.com.

The diet outlined in the article spells out which foods to ingest to get better sleep and which foods insomnia sufferers may want to avoid because they inhibit sleep.

For the most part, food and eating routines to avoid before sleeping are well known: caffeinated beverages, alcohol, large meals before sleep, and liquids before bed. But not too much is said about the foods that help us sleep—that’s where Bauer comes in.

According to Bauer, foods that will help us sleep are those that contain the amino acid component tryptophan, a necessary ingredient to make serotonin. According to the article, “A 2005 study of people with chronic insomnia found that diet made a big difference. After three weeks, those who ate foods with high amounts of tryptophan with carbohydrates, or who took pharmaceutical grade tryptophan supplements had improvements on all measures of sleep … and food sources worked just as well as the supplements.”

Bauer recommends the following bedtime snacks to help insomnia sufferers:

• Cinnamon Oatmeal: 1/2 cup dry oatmeal prepared with 1/2 cup skim milk and 1/2 cup water and sprinkled with cinnamon (optional one teaspoon sugar or artificial sweetener),
• One slice whole wheat toast topped with sliced tomato and one turkey slice,
• One cup skim milk with one cup grapes,
• 6-ounce container of non-fat, flavored yogurt,  
• Low-fat berry sorbet pop,
• 1/2 cup low-fat vanilla pudding, and
• Sliced apple with 1 to 2 teaspoons peanut butter.
  

Other sleep-promoting dietary supplements mentioned in the article include the herb valerian and the hormone melatonin.