Foods for sleep

What APEX holds on the table for sleep: the foods it leads with, each with where it comes from and why it is ours. Not a treatment plan — the food, and the reason it is on the list.

Compiled by APEX Legacy from published research and documented food history, under the editorial direction of Jonathan Jackson, Founder. How we write and review these pages →

Drinks

ChamomileDried chamomile flowers brewed as tea. Contains apigenin (a flavonoid with GABA receptor…
Soursop Leaf Tea (Graviola Leaf Decoction — Calming Variant)A gentle bedtime decoction of soursop (graviola) leaves, brewed in the Caribbean and West…
Rooibos Tea (South African Red Bush Tea)Caffeine-free, antioxidant-loaded, and it won't keep you up at night.
Blue Lotus TeaThe sacred blue lily of the ancient Nile — brewed as a gently calming, mildly euphoric…
Orange Blossom WaterThe fragrant water distilled from bitter orange blossoms — the same flower that gives…
Catnip TeaA mild, minty tea from the catnip herb, long the go-to Southern remedy for a colicky…
Lemongrass TeaLemongrass tea is what calm smells like. Citral — the primary volatile compound…
Oat Straw TeaThe green oat plant — not the grain — brewed as a deeply restorative, mineral-rich…

Herbs & Spices

Soursop Leaf (Graviola)Soursop leaf (graviola) tea — the Caribbean and West African medicinal leaf used for…
Valerian RootRoot herb with distinctive strong, earthy smell (considered unpleasant by many).
Lemon BalmLemon-scented member of the mint family. Leaves contain rosmarinic acid, apigenin, and…
Culinary LavenderThe purple flower buds of the lavender plant, used dried as a culinary flower — in teas…
PassionflowerStunning purple-flowered vine with sedating properties from chrysin, vitexin, isovitexin…
Griffonia simplicifoliaGriffonia is the West African legume whose black seeds are the planet's main natural…
Kava KavaThe Pacific Islands' ceremonial calming root, now widely used for anxiety.
VervainBlue vervain — the Southern Black American nerve herb that calms anxiety, eases tension…

Fruit

Tart CherryTart cherry is one of the few whole food sources of melatonin at clinically meaningful…
Jujube (Chinese Date / Red Date)Small date-like fruit with extraordinary sedative, anxiolytic, and immune-modulating…
White SapoteA round green-to-yellow fruit with smooth, custard-like ivory flesh tasting of banana…
Passion FruitMost people know passion fruit from the stickers on yogurt cups.
Soursop (Graviola)Soursop contains annonaceous acetogenins — compounds with documented cytotoxic activity…
LonganLongan is the quiet one in the lychee family — slightly less sweet, more complex, with a…

Vegetables

Lemon VerbenaLemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora) is the bright-lemon-scented herb that has lived in…
SkullcapSkullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) is the nervine that root doctors, granny midwives, and…
PoriaAn underground pine-root fungus, called Fu Ling in Chinese medicine, used for centuries…
Blue VervainBlue vervain (Verbena hastata) grows in wet meadows and creek banks across the eastern…

Rice, Grains & Starch

Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas)High-zinc seeds with the most bioavailable plant zinc of any food, rich in magnesium…

Snacks

Roasted Pumpkin SeedsWhole pumpkin or African melon seeds dry-roasted with the hull on until they pop and…

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