If you need to improve your sleep patterns, the other area to look at is your diet. There are foods that can help you to sleep better, and foods to avoid.
Sometimes a simple change in diet can make all the difference.
Diet:
- Magnesium-rich foods can help you sleep better. These include green leafy vegetables, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds and wholegrain breads and cereals.
- Avoid caffeine after 3:00 pm - it can affect your ability to fall asleep.
- Avoid alcohol in the three hours before you sleep. It can lead to disturbed sleep patterns.
- Don't go to bed either hungry or over-full. Either can cause disturbed sleep.
The bottom line is that no matter how hard you train, you are wasting valuable effort if you don't give the body sufficient time to rest and recover.
Sleep is an essential part of that, and should be monitored with the same rigor that you apply to your training and your diet. Making these simple changes could improve both your mental and physical performance.
