If you want to optimize your health, sleep is a must. Sleep will do a lot, from increasing your resting metabolic rate, giving you more control over your cravings, to ensuring you have the energy to tackle the day. It can also help you prevent health-related conditions such as depression, type 2 diabetes, and even heart disease.

However, many people do not get the sleep they need every night.

Fortunately, there are ways around this. There are certain foods that you can eat to help improve your health and ensure that you fall asleep on time and sleep soundly when you do.

Here are three nutrition tips to keep in mind …

1. Don’t avoid carbohydrates. Many people avoid carbohydrates completely before bed because they believe that eating carbohydrates will make them gain body fat. If you plan them as part of your day, this is not the case. Just be sure to choose naturally complex carbohydrates that contain as little sugar as possible. Complex carbohydrates will help keep your blood sugar levels stable.

A small bowl of oatmeal, for example, is the perfect bedtime meal. These carbohydrates will help trigger a release of serotonin in your body, which can help you feel calm and sleepy.

2. Be aware of fats. What you should take into account is the intake of fats in the diet. Eating too much fat in the diet before bed is problematic, as it can lengthen the digestion process and keep you awake as blood rushes to your stomach.

You don’t want to have a meal in your stomach for the first few hours of sleep, or this can affect the quality of sleep you get. Your fat intake at this meal should be kept between 5 and 7 grams or less.

3. Eat foods rich in tryptophan. Finally, one amino acid that you will want to include as part of your bedtime meal, if you can, is tryptophan. This amino acid will make you drowsy and can also induce feelings of calm.

Foods that are an excellent source of this amino acid include …

• walnuts,

• seeds

• Turkey,

• oatmeal,

• Beans,

• lentils

as well as eggs. This is one of the reasons you often feel so sleepy after Christmas turkey dinners – Tryptophan is flooding your system.

There are three quick nutrition tips to keep in mind before you go to bed at night. Eat well before bed and you will be able to sleep peacefully in no time.