Honey for insomnia: which is better, tasty and healthy recipes

Honey is a delicacy loved by millions of people. It is called a natural elixir that helps maintain health, youth and prosperity. It often promotes weight loss and the removal of harmful toxins. People often wonder if a spoonful of honey before bed will harm them. The fact is that nutritionists do not recommend eating at night, at late times. Those who are on a diet are especially careful about sweets. To answer this question, you need to carefully analyze the information. The main thing is to approach this issue wisely, avoiding excesses.

Useful properties of honey

Honey has long been considered a healing product. It is enjoyed by both men, women and children. The composition meets all the requirements of food that is well absorbed, does not cause discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract, and even allows you to lose weight.

Bee sweetness accelerates the regeneration of damaged tissues. Honey contains substances that promote wound healing

Let's consider the irreplaceable properties of the product.

Normalizes sleep. Due to its positive effect on the nervous system, honey helps you fall asleep at a set time, rather than tossing and turning all night. One teaspoon of this golden elixir is the key to a relaxing holiday. This factor can be considered a significant and pleasant plus.
Positive impact on health. If you make it a rule to consume honey every day, you can forget about periodic pain in the stomach and throughout the digestive tract. The product does not contain harmful substances, so it can be considered dietary; it promotes the removal of toxins through the large intestine. It is recommended to take the sweet remedy for at least three to four weeks in a row.
Strengthens the body's defenses. It is useful to eat during periods of impotence and colds. Experts and athletes recommend eating this carbohydrate. A teaspoon of honey will not only lift your spirits, but also replenish your internal resources. Honey nectar is a wonderful, sensible snack that will help you avoid gaining weight.
Normalizes blood pressure. People suffering from hypertension need to make it a rule to eat a spoonful of honey every evening before going to bed. Increased blood sugar will also cease to be a problem.
Prevents the formation of tumors. If you take honey with enviable regularity, the risk of developing cancer will decrease several times. It is the richest source of antioxidants.
Maintaining visual health. The modern rhythm of life often involves a lot of strain on the eyes: working at a computer, prolonged workload, etc. You shouldn’t limit yourself to such a healthy delicacy – it will allow you to improve your health.
Improves the functioning of the cardiovascular system. Surprisingly, people suffering from heart failure cannot do without this amazing product. It helps many people feel better and calm down.
Fights bacteria and viruses. For this reason, honey is so useful to eat to prevent influenza during epidemics. If your throat hurts, don’t be afraid to make yourself a copper drink. The body's reaction will not be long in coming.

Nutritional composition - foods for good sleep

Tryptophan and melatonin

“Before bed, eat a piece of turkey. It contains tryptophan, which is necessary for the formation of the sleep hormone melatonin, which means that turkey is a product that improves sleep”... There are more than enough recommendations like this on the Internet. However, such advice is untenable.

First, so-called sleep aids are not quick-acting sleeping pills. The body needs up to several hours to digest, absorb nutrients and “attach” them to certain biochemical reactions. Secondly, tryptophan sources are important not only in the evening, but also throughout the day. In order not to be unfounded, I will describe a simplified scheme for tryptophan metabolism.

Once in the body, this amino acid is used to form serotonin, also known as the hormone of joy. In turn, serotonin can be converted into melatonin, the sleep hormone.

During the day, while the retina of the eyes is exposed to light, the reactions of melatonin formation are blocked in the body, all tryptophan is spent on the biosynthesis of serotonin, which creates a feeling of happiness, well-being, improves a person’s motor activity and maintains a feeling of vigor.

At night, in the dark, serotonin becomes less, because the formation of melatonin from it is activated. Under the influence of the latter, body temperature decreases, inhibition processes in the brain begin to predominate, and drowsiness occurs.

Thus, during the day, tryptophan is spent on the formation of activating serotonin, and at night - on calming melatonin. That is, as mentioned above, you need to try to consume more foods containing tryptophan in any of your meals. Such products include the notorious turkey, oatmeal, bananas, milk, cheese, red meat, legumes, nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, cottage cheese, dates.

But that is not all. Tryptophan itself is not absorbed very well, so it is important to consume its sources as part of a mixed diet, along with foods containing carbohydrates (bread, cereals, vegetables, fruits). They stimulate the release of insulin, which helps the absorption of tryptophan.

All this leads us to a logical conclusion: you don’t need a special strict diet to sleep well. You just need to provide yourself with a nutritious, healthy, varied diet on an ongoing basis.

As for the composition of the diet, here are some more recommendations.

Those foods that put a lot of stress on the digestive organs (coarse fiber, meat, legumes) are best consumed in the first half of the day and at lunch. For dinner, it is better to leave dishes that the body can process more easily: porridge, fresh and cooked vegetables, cottage cheese.
Overeating in the evening is unacceptable. This creates a feeling of heaviness, causes abdominal discomfort, increased gas production and ultimately interferes with sleep.
It is recommended to consume stimulant products and sources of “fast” energy (chocolate, confectionery) before 14-15 hours. Otherwise, you may have difficulty falling asleep.
Throughout the day, be moderate, do not “abuse” high-calorie foods, fatty foods, and sweets. This leads to weight gain, and excess weight is one of the leading risk factors for snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.

Vitamins and microelements

Let's remember

About tryptophan, the presence of other micronutrients in the diet is very important. In particular, products for good sleep should contain magnesium, B vitamins and vitamin D. They play an important role in regulating the activity of the nervous system and are involved in processes that ensure falling asleep.

Dietary sources of magnesium are mainly fresh green vegetables and fruits. However, this richest resource is also the least accessible to the body. The fact is that such plant foods contain a substance called phytin, which complicates the absorption of magnesium. For this reason, it is better to use nuts and cereals to enrich internal magnesium reserves. It is recommended to consume these foods before bed, although they can be eaten at any other time of the day.

In Norway and the USA, ordinary tap water is enriched with magnesium. This is not practiced in our country, but this element can still be obtained from mineral water. In order not to experience magnesium deficiency, it is enough to drink 1-2 glasses a day.

As for B vitamins , as you know, there are many of them. The most important of them are B1, B2, B5, B6 and B12. All of them are important for the functioning of the nervous system and good sleep. Vitamins B1 and B2 are found mainly in plant foods: bran, bread, cereals, potatoes, spinach, soy, mushrooms, broccoli, etc. In contrast, B6 and B12 are present in products of animal origin: meat, offal, milk, yolks. And only vitamin B5, also called pantothenic acid (“pantoten” means “universal”), is found in almost all healthy foods.

By the way, if you take vitamin B5 in combination with vitamin U (it is most abundant in raw vegetables), the calming effect of vitamin B5 is enhanced. So vegetables are also foods that improve sleep.

Vitamin D, also necessary for quality sleep, is produced in the body on the basis of 7,8-dihydrocholesterol, a component of sebum. In order for it to be produced effectively, two conditions are needed: the presence of vegetable oils and fish in the diet, as well as frequent exposure to the sun.

Drinks in the diet

Our sleep and well-being are affected not only by the foods we consume, but also by the drinks we drink. It’s easy to verify this by remembering the invigorating effect of coffee drunk inappropriately before bed. So if you expect to get a good quality night's rest, watch not only what you eat, but also what you drink.

In the first half of the day, before 14-15 hours, taking stimulants (cola, coffee, strong tea) is allowed, and sometimes even encouraged. However, it is better to avoid them after lunch. Don't forget that caffeine is also found in hot chocolate, cocoa, green tea, mate tea, kudin, and matcha.
Coffee before bed is prohibited. In the evening, it is better to drink plain water, milk, fermented milk drinks, herbal teas with a calming effect (based on mint, chamomile, oregano, linden, etc.).
According to a well-known belief, the best drink at night to help you fall asleep is milk with honey. However, it actually has no hypnotic effect. However, if a cup of hot milk is part of your bedtime ritual, it can really be soothing. True, purely psychologically.
It is advisable not to drink alcohol within 3 hours before bedtime, but it is better to give it up completely.
It is traditionally recommended to avoid drinking excess fluids before bed to avoid waking up at night with the urge to go to the toilet. But if a healthy person wakes up once to relieve himself in the middle of the night, then, having emptied his bladder, he will return to bed and fall asleep sweeter than before. This will not affect the quality of your sleep. So I won’t especially insist on the “dry mode” after dinner. It is needed only when a person has some kind of disease, as well as sleep disorders, in which after waking up it is difficult for him to fall asleep again.

Is it possible to take honey at night?

Some experts believe that this is a rather controversial issue. Many people doubt: is honey good for you at night? If you want to take honey correctly, you should listen to the advice. It is allowed to consume the honey product at a later time. There will definitely be no harm. But a person must have complete information and know what the benefits are.

Many people ask: is it possible to use honey at night when losing weight? The answer is yes. An important condition: you cannot increase the dosage so as not to gain weight. Otherwise, the result is unlikely to please you.

Recipes for making honey at night

Honey is a wonderful medicine of high quality that helps with almost everything. There are simple recipes that allow you to quickly achieve positive results.

Honey with tea

Honey with dried apricots

The benefits from them are undoubted:

In its purest form. One spoon of honey at night will prevent you from gaining weight and at the same time will help create a positive attitude on the path to a healthy lifestyle. Taking pure honey daily improves your mood and helps you get rid of mental burden.
With milk. To ensure a healthy and healthy sleep, you need to take a teaspoon of honey in a glass of warm milk. There is no need to add sugar to the drink. The mixture can be taken daily.
With water. What could be easier than making yourself a simple cocktail? However, you should be careful not to consume a lot of liquid at night, so as not to provoke the appearance of edema. Overall the impact is positive.
With dried apricots. Two or three dry fruits can be eaten as a bite with a spoon of honey. This can become a pleasant evening ritual. The person will not gain weight, the product is not too high in calories and is not capable of harm.
With tea. The simplest and most common option to get rid of insomnia and the first signs of a cold. You can add honey to hot tea or just drink it with it.

Pure honey

With water

With milk

How to eat honey before bed for weight loss

Not everyone knows how best to eat honey at night. This needs to be done competently. It is useful to eat one teaspoon, but no more. It is advisable to try to do this one to two hours before falling asleep.

For those who are planning to lose weight, it is not advisable to regularly use the product - it can significantly reduce the previously achieved results.

Does it help you lose weight or not?

If you do not overeat during the day and follow the necessary measures to prevent excess weight gain, then there will be no harm from honey. You should avoid uncontrolled consumption of sweets. In large quantities, honey is not beneficial and can cause problems with extra pounds. In addition, such a tasty habit will help significantly strengthen your immune system. A person usually begins to notice that it becomes easier for him to fall asleep and relax after a busy day of work.

Honey will be beneficial for weight loss if you do not abuse the product

Nutrition and dreams

Ed.

Avna is believed that overeating at night causes bad dreams. There is even a corresponding saying: “Nightmares come for dinner.” Do you remember Dickens' A Christmas Carol? When a ghost appears to Scrooge, he exclaims: “You must be an undigested piece of beef, or an extra drop of mustard, or a slice of cheese!”

It is worth noting that there is no direct connection between overeating and nightmares, but such a cause-and-effect relationship is possible. A person falls asleep, his brain begins to direct the restoration of the body’s physical resources, memorizing information... And then signals from the overcrowded gastrointestinal tract interfere with these subtle processes. This can confuse the complex functioning of the nervous system and cause disturbing images in the brain that we see and remember as nightmares.

Other assumptions about the connection between nutrition and dreams are untenable and even absurd. So, there is an opinion that if you eat eggs every day, you will dream about birds, and if you constantly eat oranges, then a person will begin to see orange dreams. In theory, it would be fun to control your dreams by changing your diet, but this, of course, is impossible.

But in general, sleep and nutrition are very closely related. The good news is that by changing your diet to a healthier one, you will be able to sleep much better.