Nutrition

Overcoming insomnia with diet

Insomnia

Some people with insomnia may fall asleep easily enough but wake up too soon. Otherssimply can’t fall asleep, or they have trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep.

The result is low-quality sleep that doesn’t make you feel refreshed when you wake up. Often, insomnia is a symptom or a side effect of some other problems like:

• Illness, such as heart or lung disease

• Pain, anxiety, or depression

• Drugs that delay or disrupt sleep

• Caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, and other substances that affect sleep

• A poor sleep environment or a change in sleep routine

If the cause of the insomnia is known, then the insomnia should improve once the underlying cause is treated. However, there is a type of insomnia (primary insomnia) which is not as a result of any underlying disease and usually last at least one month.

Nutrition and lifestyle changes go a long way in the battle against insomnia.

Below are some of the foods that may help:

• Melatonin rich foods such as oats, nuts, fish and berries.

• Tryptophan rich foods such as spinach, eggs, and crabs.

• Niacin rich foods such asmushrooms, tuna, turkey, and anchovies.

• Vitamin B6 rich foods such as avocados, carrots, bananas, and organ meat.

Lifestyle changes

• Avoid late night watching of movies, TV shows, social media, etc.

• Have a separate bedroom away from all sorts of destruction

• Change uncomfortable beds, pillows, and sheets

• Avoid late night eating and drinking of water

• Take warm baths in the evening

• Add some forms of exercise to your lifestyle routine

It can be very unsettling dealing with insomnia, especially when we don’t know the cause. But applying the dietary and lifestyle changes mentioned above can not only treat insomnia, but also improve our quality of life in general.

Going to sleep should be a breeze in no time, with sweet dreams just around the corner.

By Dr Bernice Korkor Asare

Kind courtesy of:

Holistic Health Consult

“Your diet your health, your health your wealth”

E-mail: info@holistichealthconsult.org

Nutrition

Dietary management of memory loss

Chocolate

In this new chapter, we will be discussing how we can manage memory loss with our diet.

Some people get more forgetful with age. It may take longer to learn new things, remember familiar faces and words as well as personal belongings.

Memory loss can be mild or serious. Serious memory lapses affect ability to do daily activities like driving, shopping, or handling of money among others.

Below are some pointers of serious memory loss;

●Asking the same questions over and over again

●Getting lost in familiar places

●Being unable to follow directions

●Getting very confused about time, people, and places

●Self-neglect such as eating poorly, not bathing, or being unsafe

See a doctor if you are worried about your memory lapses or those of a loved one. You also can do many things to make your memory last.

Research has shown a great improvement in memory loss with appropriate diet.

Foods to consume

●Foods rich in antioxidants (vitamins C, E, and beta carotene) such as; oranges, pineapples, blue berries and kiwi.

●Complex carbohydrates such as oatmeal, brown rice, and wheat bran.

●Epicatechin rich foods such as; grapes, blueberries and chocolate.

●Iron rich foods such as; beans, fortified cereals, nuts, and soy bean.

●Monounsaturated fatty acid rich foods such as almonds, avocado, and walnuts.

Lifestyle modification

●Having hobbies

●Getting pets

●Spending time with friends, family and loved ones.

●Joining support groups

●Reduce alcohol intake

●Cessation of smoking

In conclusion, our memory largely makes us who we are; imagine not remembering your own name! We can stray farther away from such a fate by applying the diet and lifestyle above, so that we can always remember who we are and who/what we love.

The writer Dr. Bernice Korkor Asare is the CEO of Holistic Health Consult.

“Your diet your health, your health your wealth”

E-mail: info@holistichealthconsult.org