Nurture by nature

By Megan Weltner

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The old wives tale that a glass of warm milk will put you right to sleep is right on the money.

Milk is a great sleep aid for two reasons:

photo

Photo by Megan Weltner

Nighty night: Milk contains calcium, magnesium and tryptophan, which all help relax the body or serve as natural sleeping aids.

1. It contains calcium and magnesium, both relax the body.

2. Tryptophan. Tryptophan is the same ingredient in turkey. A glass of milk has a large amount of this natural sleeping aid.

But does the milk need to be warm to induce sleep? According to Dr. David Edelberg of the Whole Health Clinic in Chicago says milk should be warm.

“Warming the milk helps because it breaks up the protein molecules making it more readily available to the body,” Edelberg says. “Also, you don’t want to drink something cold right before bed because that can be stimulating to the body.”

 

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