A warm drink of milk before bed has long been the best choice for those wanting a good night's sleep. But now a study has found it really does help people nod off—if it is milked from a cow at night.
Researchers have discovered that "night milk" has more melatonin (褪黑激素), which has been proven to help people feel sleepy and less worried.
In the study, mice were fed with dried milk powder made from cows milked both during the day and at night by researchers from Seoul, South Korea.
Those given night milk, which had 10 times the amount of melatonin, were less active and less worried than those fed with the milk collected during daytime, according to the study published in The Journal of Medicinal Food.
Night milk quicken the start of sleep and caused the mice to sleep longer.
While the effect of milk harvested at different time has not been tested on humans up to now, taking melatonin medicine has been suggested to those who are trying to fall asleep at night.
Studies have also showed that milk can be excellent for helping sleep because there is calcium (钙) in it, which helps people to relax.
Milk is also sugar-free because it is the least fattening. The more fat you take in before bedtime, the greater burden you will have on your body at night.
