Warm milk and the placebo effect. What do you think?!
Warm milk and the placebo effect. What do you think?
You know how it is said that if you can't sleep, drink a glass of warm milk and it will make you tired. Do you think it really DOES make you tired or do you think it's the placebo effect?
Additional Details1 week ago
I didn't know that. I saw on the discovery channel that in order to get tired soley off the tryptophan in turkey, you would have to eat the whole turkey alone. And that people get sleepy because of all the energy being used on digestion.
Answers:
1 week ago
I didn't know that. I saw on the discovery channel that in order to get tired soley off the tryptophan in turkey, you would have to eat the whole turkey alone. And that people get sleepy because of all the energy being used on digestion.
Tryptophan, and warm is relaxing. I think that because some people think it'll make them sleepy, that it affects them more easily. I can drink warm milk and not get sleepy just as I can drink coffee and and go straight to bed.
"1) Tryptophan: the same ingredient that makes everyone sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner is present in milk.
2) Warmth: the few degrees that this drink might raise your body temperature is often enough to trigger the slowdown response we have on warm days.
In addition there is anecdotal evidence that the warm milk reminds us of the time when we were infants, hence "sleep like a baby."
Most other beverages we enjoy warm tends to have caffeine, which inhibits sleep (coffee, hot chocolate/cocoa, leaf tea), but many herbal teas are as good as warm milk and in fact are recommended for the lactose-intolerant."
Source(s):
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwar...
An 8 ounce glass of warm milk will help you sleep because it contains tryptophan - the same chemical found in turkey that makes you sleepy after a turkey dinner. More than that will not work, but I don't know why. Its not just a placebo effect.
Warm milk contains both melatonin and the amino acid tryptophan. Both are in really small amounts. You can take either of these in a tablet form. The amount found in milk is 1/100th of what you would get if you used a table. The effect is mostly psycological not physical.
milk contains tryptophan (remember that nap you want to take after Thanksgiving turkey??) the calcium and magnesium in milk help enhance the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin.
warm non caffeinated drinks have a soothing calming effect, so warm not not milk has that added benefit.
It always works for me!
an added bonus would be that this works with nonfat, low fat, 2% or whole milk so it fits into any diet
I understand your interest but I say just take an Excedrin PM.
Put you right out!