Have sleep problems? Drink a glass of milk taken from cows at night!

According to researchers, milk collected during night time has high amounts of tryptophan and melatonin, supplements proven to aid sleep and reduce anxiety.

Zee Media Bureau

London: A new study suggests that drinking a glass of warm cow milk collected during night time can help promote good night's sleep without popping any pill.

According to researchers from the Uimyung Research Institute for Neuroscience in South Korea, milk collected during night time has high amounts of tryptophan and melatonin, supplements proven to aid sleep and reduce anxiety, telegraph.co.uk reported.

For the study, researchers fed mice with night milk, day milk, water or diazepam.

They found that mice that received night milk were less active than mice that were given day milk.

These mice were also more inclined to explore open spaces, a measure that reflected reduced anxiety. These effects were comparable to the effects of diazepam, a sedative commonly used to treat anxiety.

"The sleep-promoting effect of milk has been attributed to its psychological associations (ie, the memory of a mother giving milk at bedtime) and its rich store of sleep-promoting components,” the researchers explained.

"These findings suggest that night milk might be an effective natural sleep aid for managing sleep-related disturbances and a promising alternative for the treatment of anxiety disorders," the study said.

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone which helps regulate the sleep and wake cycle, and tryptophan can be converted to serotonin and melatonin

The research was published in the Journal of Medicinal Food.