Trouble Sleeping?

Sleep has always come easily to me. I typically go to bed, turn the TV on, and by the time I find a show I want to watch, I'm asleep. That is, until I started working nights. Take yesterday for example. I got up around 9am, did some housework and then went to the antique festival with Mom. Ben and I had dinner, then caught up on a few DVR shows. Around midnight, we went to bed. And around 2am, I was still staring at the ceiling. It's SO frustrating because I had a relatively busy day, and my body is tired and ready for sleep, but my mind is in "work-mode'. When I am at work, I am awake and charting or making midnight rounds at that time. I am trying to stay away from sleeping pills, but I have taken Melatonin, which is a naturally occurring hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle. However, even if I take it at 8pm, I am still completely out of it and feel drugged at 1pm the next day. Not good. 
So how happy was I to find this article on Yahoo this morning:

5 Foods That Help You Sleep

1. Cherries. Fresh and dried cherries are one of the only natural food sources of melatonin, the chemical that controls the body's internal clock to regulate sleep. Researchers who tested tart cherries and found high levels of melatonin recommend eating them an hour before bedtime or before a trip when you want to sleep on the plane.

2. Bananas. Potassium and magnesium are natural muscle relaxants, and bananas are a good source of both. They also contain the amino acid L-tryptophan, which gets converted to 5-HTP in the brain. The 5-HTP in turn is converted to serotonin (a relaxing neurotransmitter) and melatonin.

3. Toast. Carbohydrate-rich foods trigger insulin production, which induces sleep by speeding up the release of tryptophan and serotonin, two brain chemicals that relax you and send you to sleep..

4. Oatmeal. Like toast, a bowl of oatmeal triggers a rise in blood sugar, which in turn triggers insulin production and the release of sleep-inducing brain chemicals. Oats are also rich in melatonin, which many people take as a sleep aid.

5. Warm milk. Like bananas, milk contains the amino acid L-tryptophan, which turns to 5-HTP and releases relaxing serotonin. It's also high in calcium, which promotes sleep.

Night Night, Sleep Tight!