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Want better sleep at night? You may need to rethink your eating habits, say sleep specialists.
Noshing on a giant cheeseburger and drinking a boozy cocktail right before bed, for example, may disrupt your nighttime rest. And snacking on a bowl of cherries instead of, say, a sugar cookie, may allow for more restful sleep.
"What you eat, in terms of nutrients, fats, sugar and fiber, can all play a role in sleep quality at night," says Marie-Pierre St-Onge, a nutrition scientist and researcher at Columbia University and the co-author of the cookbook Eat Better, Sleep Better.
We asked sleep researchers to share science-backed dietary practices that improve sleep. Here are their do's and don'ts.
DO seek out foods rich in tryptophan
Tryptophan is an amino acid we get from food, and it's converted to serotonin and melatonin in the brain, chemicals in our bodies that play an important role in sleep, says St-Onge.
"Melatonin is important for helping one fall asleep and remain asleep throughout the night," St-Onge says. "Serotonin makes people feel happy and is related to our sleep-wake cycle."
You can find tryptophan in almonds, barley, brown rice, chia seeds, lentils, oats, pumpkin seeds, salmon, tofu, turkey, walnuts, white beans and yogurt.
But don't assume that eating these foods will make you instantly sleepy. Tryptophan isn't a sedative, St-Onge says. Work these ingredients into your diet to promote healthier sleep over time.
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DO swap sugary and processed foods for fruits and vegetables
One of the best ways to improve sleep health is to eat more fruits and vegetables, says St-Onge. "Add more vegetables to your recipes. Swap more processed, refined food products with a piece of fruit."
Many fruits and veggies are "good sources for multiple sleep-supporting nutrients," St-Onge says. That includes serotonin, melatonin and micronutrients like magnesium, vitamin B6 and folate, which also help the body to produce melatonin.
They're also a great source of fiber. Through her research, St-Onge has found that people who have high fiber diets tend to sleep more deeply.
"Eventually, [those healthy swaps] will start to take the place of more refined carbohydrates," which, along with added sugars, can disrupt your sleep," says St-Onge. In a 2020 study, St-Onge and her colleagues found that "women who had more refined carbohydrates in their diet and more added sugars had a higher risk of insomnia."
St-Onge has a list of what she calls "powerhouse ingredients" in her cookbook. "Many of these have studies that support their benefits for sleep," she says. Here are just a few:
Bananas: Fiber, complex carbohydrates, serotonin, melatonin, magnesium, vitamin B6
Cherries: Fiber, complex carbohydrates, melatonin
Pineapple: Fiber, complex carbohydrates, serotonin, melatonin
Spinach: Fiber, folate
Tomatoes: Fiber, complex carbohydrates, melatonin, vitamin B6
DO avoid caffeine in the late afternoon and evening
If you are in the habit of drinking an afternoon coffee to give you that buzz you need to power through the rest of your day, know that the caffeine will affect your sleep.
Caffeine makes you feel alert because it blocks adenosine, a chemical that builds up in the body during the day and makes you feel sleepy at night.
Caffeine can also stick around in your body for a while. In a Life Kit episode, sleep researcher Matthew Walker said that caffeine has a half-life of about six hours in most people. That means if you have a coffee, tea or an energy drink at 5 p.m., around half of that caffeine may still be in your body at 11 p.m.
And it can actually reduce the amount of sleep you get at night. One study from 2013 found that consuming 400 milligrams of caffeine (that's about two energy drinks) six hours before bedtime reduced total sleep time by one hour.
Sensitivity to caffeine varies, but the American Academy of Sleep Medicine says to avoid caffeine in the late afternoon and evening. Experiment with the timing that works best for you. For some people, cutting out caffeine by late morning is best.
DON'T drink alcohol right before bed
Some people drink alcohol before bed to help them fall asleep. Unfortunately, alcohol is only a temporary solution, says Michael Grandner, a psychologist and sleep researcher at the University of Arizona.
While alcohol may initially sedate you, "the pendulum swings in the opposite direction and wakes you up" as it leaves your system, he says. It makes your sleep "shallow, choppy and broken up."
If you're considering a nightcap in the evening, don't drink it right before bed. Have your little tipple a few hours earlier. You want to give the alcohol more "time to exit your system," says Grandner.
If you think alcohol is affecting your sleep, try and cut your consumption in half, says Dr. Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg, a sleep specialist and medical director based in Florida. "We're not saying stop alcohol completely. Change the timing and the amount a little bit."
DON'T feast on heavy meals right before bed
Eating a big meal, like a hamburger or a plate of pasta, right before bed can disrupt your sleep, says Abbasi-Feinberg. Digestion slows at night and laying flat after eating can lead to physical discomforts like heartburn and reflux.
Put simply, "you're not supposed to eat and then lay down for hours at a time," says Grandner.
Stop eating a couple of hours before bed, says Abbasi-Feinberg. "If your digestion is done, you tend to sleep better."
It's fine to eat a little snack in the evening, says Dr. Chris Winter, a neurologist and sleep specialist in Charlottesville, Va. But keep it light: think hummus and chips or a bowl of cereal.
The digital story was edited by Meghan Keane. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.
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