Individuals who struggle to get a good night’s sleep—around one in five of us, according to research—will be accustomed to hearing familiar advice about bedtime routines that help them wind down, like taking a hot bath, investing in blackout blinds, or banishing their cell phones well before lights out.
However, as research continues to show, you may be less familiar with the fact that what you consume throughout the day can also play a part.
To be clear, no single food can cure insomnia, but there is evidence that some foods can help you sleep longer and better.
That’s crucial because sleep is as critical for survival and health as water and food. It plays an important role in our overall well-being, mood, and health, for instance, and it also affects our risk of long-term illnesses.
Poor sleep disrupts processes critical for the body, like your immune system, making you more susceptible to infections. Conversely, specific foods that promote good sleep can have the opposite effect, as achieving adequate amounts of restful sleep strengthens your immunity.
It isn’t only infections that sleep helps to ward off. Continuing poor sleep is linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, depression, and heart disease, thought to be due to the way poor sleep increases inflammation and disrupts the body’s hormonal balance.
Also, your brain uses your sleep time to recharge and clear away toxins that accumulate throughout the day as by-products of the brain’s natural processes.
Suppose there is a harmful accumulation of these molecules. In that case, they can trigger damage and have been tied to specific illnesses as well — and may be why those who sleep badly consistently are more likely to develop dementia, for example.
Day-to-day, waking up groggy and not well-rested can affect focus and concentration. You are more likely to have a car accident because of slower reaction times if you’ve slept less than seven hours, according to a study published in the journal Sleep in 2018. The risk doubles if you have had less than five hours.
However, when it comes to improving your diet to sleep better, the quality of what you eat matters more than depending on one or two key ingredients to do the heavy lifting.
A 2022 study review published in the journal Sleep Medicine found that people who ate a balanced, healthy diet consistently slept better than those who consumed a highly processed, sugary diet and were likelier to report lousy sleep.
This is likely because the diet influences the brain’s chemicals, such as serotonin and GABA, and provides nutrients the brain requires to function well, many of which help tackle inflammation.
Here are some science-backed tips on improving your eating habits so you wake up refreshed daily.
- Drinking hot chocolate might not help sleep
Even if you fall asleep easily after a post-dinner espresso, the caffeine found in coffee can still disrupt how well you continue to sleep.
Caffeine can remain in your system for about eight to 12 hours, so it’s best to stop consuming coffee in the afternoon to prevent it from ruining your sleep.
Drinking coffee even six hours before bed can cause you to lose over an hour’s worth of sleep, according to a 2013 study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
It isn’t just the amount of sleep that’s affected: an additional 2006 study found that drinking 200 mg of caffeine in the evening (the equivalent of two cups of coffee or four cups of tea) actually changed how the brains of participants worked.
The caffeine reduced the crucial deep sleep waves, also called delta waves, which are thought to be the most beneficial for achieving restful sleep. The result was a shorter, less restful night of sleep.
Despite its reputation, hot chocolate before bed might not be the best choice either. Chocolate also contains some caffeine.
A large mug of mixed cocoa contains around 25mg — about half the amount in a standard cup of tea.
Have an herbal tea in the afternoons and evenings or switch to decaf instead (the process of making herbal tea and the relaxing smell and taste should also assist you in falling asleep).
- But yogurt could be helpful
It is often said that consuming cheese gives you nightmares, but whether this is true has not been studied thoroughly yet.
However, there is evidence that other dairy products—particularly fermented dairy products such as kefir (fermented milk) and yogurt—may help you sleep soundly.
A small study conducted in 2009 and published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that drinking a half glass of kefir daily for three weeks helped participants sleep better, waking them up less often at night compared to those who drank a non-fermented, similar-tasting milk drink.
This is thought to be due to the ‘good’ bacteria found in kefir, Lactobacillus helveticus, which may boost the production of GABA, a brain chemical known to have a calming effect.
- Drink sour or tart cherry juice
Tart cherry juice (made with sour cherries) has been shown to help you sleep better in some small studies.
In a 2012 clinical trial, Northumbria University scientists gave a group of 20 volunteers either 30ml of tart cherry juice or a placebo drink twice daily for a week.
The results, published in the European Journal of Nutrition, showed only the cherry juice group experienced significant increases in their melatonin levels, the sleep hormone. They additionally spent more time in bed and slept better.
The effect could be due to an abundance of melatonin and antioxidants in sour cherries.
It could additionally be that eating more cherries is like eating more vegetables and fruit, generally, as a similar effect has been observed in individuals who eat the most veg and fruit, too.
One study in 2021, published in the journal Sleep Health, concluded that women who increased their vegetable and fruit intake by three or more servings daily slept twice as much over three months as those who didn’t.
Researchers at the University of Michigan said fruit and veg provide an anti-inflammatory effect that ‘may help improve sleep by promoting the production of melatonin and other neurotransmitters [brain chemicals] involved in the onset and then maintenances of sleep.’
- Stop eating two hours before you head to bed
According to a 2021 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, people who eat right before they go to bed wake more frequently at night and require more sleep to feel rested.
It appears that eating just before heading to bed can make your digestive system more active, interfering with your sleep.
That said, plan for a sustaining, early supper at least two hours before bedtime. Make half your plate of veg or fruit, a quarter of carbohydrates (like wholegrain pasta, wild rice, or quinoa) —and add a balance of protein (such as chicken or fish) and health fats (like extra virgin olive oil or avocado) to help you feel full.
But there isn’t any truth to the belief that consuming lots of protein makes you sleepy.
You can see why people might believe this, as high-protein foods (eggs, beans, chicken) contain the amino acid tryptophan, a building block of melatonin, your sleep hormone. However, a review of studies published in the journal Nutrition Reviews last year found that a diet rich in these only leads to a small improvement in sleep quality.
This is believed to be because tryptophan must compete with other amino acids to reach the brain, so only a minor effect is seen.
- Try switching to rye bread
If you consume plenty of fiber — the roughage found in plant foods including beans, veg, seeds, nuts, whole grains, and fruits — you are more likely to enjoy a night of unbroken, deep sleep, according to a study in 2016 in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
One potential explanation for this effect is that fiber is crucial for a diverse and flourishing gut microbiome—the community of microorganisms living in your gut that research is showing is increasingly vital to many of our bodily processes and overall health.
And, yes, a healthy microbiome is tied to longer and better quality sleep, according to a 2019 study published in the journal PLOS One.
Your gut bacteria like to feed on particular types of fiber, such as leeks, onions, garlic, asparagus, and garlic. These gut bacteria are believed to help produce the chemicals serotonin and GABA, which promote healthy sleep and support the immune system.
It is recommended that we consume at least 30g of fiber daily, and swapping to pumpernickel rye bread (one slice contains 6 g of fiber) or a wholegrain seeded loaf is a great way to get an extra boost.
You could also make your own seed and nut blend to sprinkle over your yogurt or oatmeal, using wheat bran, oat bran, ground flaxseeds, and chia seeds. Two tablespoons of flaxseeds or one and a half tablespoons of chia seeds provide between 5-6 grams of fiber.
