Can't sleep well? Call on nutrients for help.

Introduction: There are many factors that can lead to poor sleep quality, and one that you may have overlooked for a long time is that your body might be deficient in certain vitamins and minerals! When we provide our brains with ample nutrients, the brain can make our body feel very relaxed, thus leading to better sleep. And with good sleep, we can have more energy and vitality. If you've been bothered by your poor sleep quality and have tried many sleep aids and foods with little effect, maybe you should change direction—check if your body is deficient in certain vitamins and minerals, as these are essential hypnotic substances that help you get a good night's sleep.

Nutty Shortbread

Lack of Calcium & Magnesium Can Ruin Your Sleep

The deficiency of these two minerals, calcium and magnesium, is the main culprit for poor sleep in women. Calcium is one of the most abundant minerals in the human body and is also the mineral that women most need to supplement. Calcium has a sedative effect on the nervous system, helping the body to relax and achieve high-quality sleep.

Foods rich in calcium: Dairy products, nuts, sardines or salmon (with bones), and green leafy vegetables.

Magnesium is a natural sedative and is very important for getting good sleep. Magnesium also helps the body absorb calcium, which is why it is often added to calcium supplements. The recommended daily intake of magnesium is around 300 milligrams. If you really can't fall asleep, you can consult a doctor and take a high dose of 1000 mg of magnesium before bed as a gentle aid to help you sleep. A side effect of taking magnesium is diarrhea, and this symptom will stop if you reduce your magnesium intake accordingly.

Pan-Seared Salmon

The Absence of Copper & Iron Can Disrupt Your Sleep

Copper is closely related to the human nervous system. The norepinephrine it's responsible for manufacturing mainly functions to control the brain's waking and sleeping states. When the body lacks copper, the internal inhibition process of the nervous system becomes disordered, disrupting the sleep-wake balance and putting the body in an excited state, making it difficult to fall asleep. Insufficient blood supply to the brain is also one of the important factors causing insomnia. Iron, on the other hand, is an essential raw material for making red blood cells in the blood. Once the body's iron intake is insufficient, it will inevitably lead to problems with blood supply. Copper is a catalyst for the synthesis of hemoglobin with iron; when copper is deficient, iron cannot be utilized properly.

Important note! Both copper and iron can cause toxic reactions if consumed in excess. Therefore, if you need to take copper or iron supplements to treat sleep problems, you must do so under a doctor's guidance and use the actual mineral levels in your body, determined by a blood test, as a reference for dosage.

Leek and Pork Blood Stir-fry

Replenish B Vitamins for Sound and Steep Sleep

Foods rich in tryptophan are a good remedy for insomnia, because the tryptophan in these foods enters the brain with the combination of carbohydrates and proteins in your diet, giving you a peaceful sleep. And B vitamins are the vitamins necessary for the body to synthesize tryptophan. Research has found that B vitamins are one of the vitamins we most commonly lack, and they play a very important role in treating and preventing diseases, especially insomnia. More importantly, there is a synergistic interaction among B vitamins, which means that taking multiple B vitamins at once is more effective than taking them separately.

American sleep experts suggest: Before bed, you might eat some foods rich in B vitamins, of course, paired with some carbohydrate-rich foods, like honey whole wheat toast or fruit. "This folk remedy for insomnia works for most people. It has a sedative effect similar to that of sleeping pills, but without the side effects of dependency and addiction that sleeping pills have."

Whole Wheat Black Sesame Bread