The 5 Foods That Will Help You Sleep Better Tonight, According to a Sleep Expert

There are very few things that are worse than the inability to fall asleep and get a quality night's rest. If you desperately want to improve your sleep without medication, grab a pen and a piece of paper — or open the notes app on your phone — and get ready to take notes.

To find out the best foods to eat for better sleep, POPSUGAR spoke to Alon Avidan, MD, MPH, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center. Dr. Avidan explained that sleep disorders and disruption are caused by a variety of factors like having caffeine after 10 a.m. and restless legs syndrome.

If you have difficulties falling asleep, Dr. Avidan recommends skipping over-the-counter medicine because side effects can be severe. Instead, he advises seeing your primary care physician, completing a sleep questionnaire, and if necessary, a sleep study to get to the root of the problem.

He also suggests eating foods that have high levels of tryptophan (the precursor to melatonin) before bed to promote better sleep. "Melatonin helps the body transition to sleep. It is produced in the brain in response to darkness, it shuts down the alerting signal generated at the level of the circadian clock in the brain and allows people to fall asleep," he explained.

Ahead, you'll find five tryptophan-containing foods you should stock up on if improved sleep is what you're after.

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Tart Chery Juice
Unsplash | Javier Cidón

Tart Chery Juice

"Tart cherry juice contains compounds that help sleep called cytokines, meaning that they're sleep inducers," Dr. Avidan told POPSUGAR. In 2014, researchers from Louisiana State University found that drinking cherry juice twice a day helped subjects sleep up to 90 minutes longer per night.

If you don't have a bottle of cherry juice in your fridge, we highly suggest you go buy one ASAP.

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Milk
Unsplash | Ibrahim Rifath

Milk

Another more common drink that can help promote sleep at night is milk, although it isn't advised for everyone. "The problem with milk is that it can cause reflux. It may improve your sleep, but then you may end up waking up because of indigestion from the milk," Dr. Avidan said.

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Cheese and Other Dairy Compounds
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Cheese and Other Dairy Compounds

If you experience acid reflux after drinking milk, you may want to consider having cheese and other dairy compounds to induce sleep.

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Tuna
Getty | Claudia Totir

Tuna

Another food high in tryptophan is tuna fish. A few ounces of canned tuna, or fresh if you prefer, should have you on your way to better sleep.

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Chicken and Turkey
Getty | Anna Kurzaeva

Chicken and Turkey

Yes, the turkey from your Thanksgiving dinner can really help you fall asleep along with other meats like chicken, beef, and pork.