Lights out.

Who doesn't love a good sleep? As children growing up, we'd fight bedtime tooth and nail, you'd be hard pushed to find a household where '5 more minutes' wasn't part of the daily interactions. As we've grown into full human adults we long for sleep and begrudge those early years when we didn't take full advantage of 9 pm lights out. It can also be said that as we attempt to balance work, life (and everything in between) it can be a full-blown mind battle to simply switch off and go asleep. On this week's episode of Girls With Goals, we're eating ALL the food and finding out the perfect bedtime snack that will not only promote that all important sleep hormone it will also KEEP you asleep the whole night. Listen at 10:36 in the link below to find out what the magic snacks are or keep reading...   Joining us on the panel this week are nutritionist Rosanna Davison and naturopath Aisling O'Kelly, and when it comes to sleeping there's one amino acid known as Tryptophan that they can't live without. Tryptooooo what now I hear you ask? We will explain all, but first, we found out what can sometimes cause us to wake up in the middle of the night. Rosanna explains that it's mostly down to our sugar intake;

"People say to me I can't stop waking up at 2 in the morning full of energy, and I say are you eating sugary foods before you go to bed? More often than not they are. What happens is your blood sugar levels are raised, you then go to bed and you get that crash in the night which causes an adrenaline rush and that's what wakes you up with your heart racing".

This is all making sense now *backs away from the biscuit tin*.

I learned SO much today from these nutrition boss ladies! Episode 9 of #GirlsWithGoals is all about our healthy guts, moderation over the Christmas period, and POOP! Yep... I brought it up ?? Out Monday @rosanna_davison and @aoknutrition . . . . . . #podcast #broadcast #GirlsWithGoals #nutrition #guthealth #poop #Maximum #Her

A post shared by Niamh Maher (@niamh_maher) on Nov 24, 2017 at 5:23am PST

Our panel explains that Tryptophan is a type of amino acid which is part of the pathway to form our sleep hormone melatonin. Simply put, it encourages our body to get that yummy tired sleepy feeling. So where can we find this magic amino?  Well, almond milk and almond butter are good examples of Tryptophan rich snacks. Aisling says it's the first thing she recommends for clients who are complaining of sleep deprivation;

"I give my clients a Tryptophan rich bedtime snack which would be your oatcakes your almond butter and some banana on top, if you have that with some camomile tea it will KNOCK you out. You have to understand your body is literally made from food, it's not just something your eating to enjoy... it benefits everything."

On this episode, we also explore which wine will keep the dreaded hangovers at bay, and we isolate the 3 main causes of bloating before the madness of Christmas kicks in.

Girls With Goals is available to download on Soundcloud and iTunes every Monday morning.