Tryptophan and The Science of Catching Some ZZZZ’s (Part 1)
Tryptophan is a vital amino acid that you can only get from foods you eat. Your body cannot produce tryptophan on its own, so it depends on the foods and supplements you eat or consume. In turn, this tryptophan assists the human body in making niacin, a B level vitamin. This chain of biological events helps produce serotonin, a chemical that your body needs in order to “cool off” and relax so that you can slip into dreamland. People with insomnia and characteristics of sleep deprivation have low levels of this serotonin.
There is a myth going around that eating turkey can help you fall asleep. Turkey does have naturally occurring tryptophan in it, but it is not enough to make you sleepy or drowsy. In fact, you would have to eat turkey and turkey alone, without any other condiments or side dishes in order to reap any drowsy benefits. In other words, you would need to eat the turkey on an empty stomach so no other foods are absorbing or diluting the tryptophan and its sedative effects. The myth probably stems from people overloading with food at Thanksgiving and naturally feeling sleepy.
The trick to getting drowsy and falling asleep is to eat some foods that have carbohydrates as well as tryptophan. What happens is these carbohydrates stimulate the production of insulin in the body. Insulin helps “move” other chemicals in the body out of the way that can interfere with the tryptophan and the creation of serotonin. There is quite a list of foods that contain the sleep trigger tryptophan, namely dairy and soy. Listed below are just a few examples:
