Q: What foods can I eat to help me fall asleep at bedtime?

The best thing to do is avoid any heavy meals within 3 hours of bedtime. That being said, it's also recommended that you don't go to bed hungry. An ideal pre-bedtime food choice would be a light snack that combines both a protein and carbohydrate. For example, a piece of cheese with a whole wheat cracker or a tablespoon of peanut butter on 1/2 of a banana can help induce sleepiness.

I generally suggest that patients refrain from liquids (water, chamomile tea, warm milk) as this can increase the need to urinate during the night.

Shelby Freedman Harris, Psy.D., C.BSM is Director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Neurology as well as Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is board certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. A graduate of Brown University, Dr. Harris received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University. Dr. Harris completed her predoctoral internship at Montefiore Medical Center where she trained in the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center, and has received advanced postdoctoral training in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for anxiety and depressive disorders.

As a licensed psychologist, Dr. Harris specializes in behavioral sleep medicine and CBT for anxiety and depression. She has published and presented research on the neuropsychological effects of insomnia in older adults as well as behavioral treatments for insomnia, parasomnias, narcolepsy and excessive daytime sleepiness. Dr. Harris currently supervises students from the Montefiore Psychology Internship, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology Cognitive Behavior Therapy Program and the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center Fellowship. Dr. Harris is a consultant for the
New York Times "Consults Blog" and is frequently quoted in the media, including The New York Times "Well Blog", The Huffington Post, The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, and Fitness Magazine. She has appeared on ABC7-NY's Eyewitness News and ABC's Primetime: Live.