Eating More Fruits and Veggies Could Help You Sleep

You probably know that eating five servings of fruits and vegetables every day is good for your overall health. But did you know that it is also good for your sleep? Instead of counting sheep or using a white noise machine, you may have to go to your supermarket instead.

Now, a new study from the University of Chicago Medicine and Columbia University, published in Sleep Health Journal, found that eating more fruits and veggies during the day could help you sleep soundly that same night.

That’s right, your sleep quality could improve in less than 24 hours, according to ChicagoMedicine. “Dietary modifications could be a new, natural and cost-effective approach to achieve better sleep,” the study’s co-senior author Esra Tasali, MD, director of the UChicago Sleep Center said in the publication.

The Connection Between Diet and Sleep

The study followed 34 young adults who logged their daily food intake in an app, reported The Jerusalem Post. At the same time, they wore a sleep monitoring bracelet to check on sleep fragmentation or how often a person wakes up or shifts from deep to lighter sleep.

The study revealed that people who ate at least five cups of fruits and vegetables a day had a 16 percent improvement in sleep quality compared to the participants who didn’t eat these healthy foods.

Why? The researchers believe that the high fiber content in fruits and veggies have a positive effect on the microbiome in the gut. These good bacteria can influence the neurotransmitters serotonin and melatonin that regulate sleep.

On the other hand, people who consumed a lot of red or processed meat slept poorly with more sleep fragmentation.

The Take-Away

Sleep is very important for your overall wellbeing. Having sleep disturbances contributes to a weakened immune system, difficulties with memory and cognition, as well as fatigue.

People have resorted to medications to help them sleep better, drinking calming beverages like chamomile tea, and even using noise machines from white to pink to brown to try to get a good night’s rest. Many even go to sleep clinics to find out why sleep is so elusive.

“People are always asking me if there are things they can eat that will help them sleep better,” co-senior author Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep & Circadian Research at Columbia told ChicagoMedicine. “Small changes can impact sleep. That is empowering — better rest is within your control.”