A new study finds that eating more fruits and vegetables during the day was associated with sleeping more soundly later that same night.
Sleep disruptions can have far-reaching negative consequences, impacting cardiovascular and metabolic health, memory, learning, productivity, mood regulation, interpersonal relationships and more.
“Dietary modifications could be a new, natural, and cost-effective approach to achieve better sleep,” says co-senior author Professor Esra Tasali, director of the UChicago Sleep Center.
“The temporal associations and objectively measured outcomes in this study represent crucial steps toward filling a gap in important public health knowledge.”
Studies have shown that inadequate sleep can cause people to gravitate towards unhealthier diets higher in fat and sugar. However, despite the far-reaching effects of sleep on public health and even economic productivity, doctors and scientists know far less about how diet can affect sleep patterns.
In previous observational studies, high fruit and vegetable intakes were associated with better self-reported overall sleep quality. However, this new study was the first to draw a temporal connection between a given day’s dietary choices and objectively measured sleep quality that same night.
Healthy young adults who participated in the study reported their food consumption each day with an app and wore a wrist monitor that allowed the researchers to empirically measure their sleep patterns. The researchers specifically looked at “sleep fragmentation,” an index that reflects how often someone awakens or shifts from deep to light sleep throughout the night.
The researchers found that each day’s diet was correlated with meaningful differences in the subsequent night’s sleep. Participants who ate more fruits and vegetables during the day tended to have deeper, more uninterrupted sleep that same night, as did those who consumed more healthy carbohydrates such as whole grains.
Based on their findings and statistical modeling, the researchers estimate that people who eat the CDC-recommended five cups of fruits and veggies per day could experience a 16% improvement in sleep quality compared to people who consume no fruits or vegetables.
“Sixteen percent is a highly significant difference,” Tasali says. “It’s remarkable that such a meaningful change could be observed within less than 24 hours.”
Future studies will help establish causation, broaden the findings across diverse populations, and examine the underlying mechanisms of digestion, neurology, and metabolism that could explain the positive impact of fruits and vegetables on sleep quality. But based on current data, the experts confidently advise that regularly eating a diet rich in complex carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables is best for long-term sleep health.
“People are always asking me if there are things they can eat that will help them sleep better,” says co-senior author Professor Marie-Pierre St-Onge, director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep & Circadian Research at Columbia.
“Small changes can impact sleep. That is empowering—better rest is within your control.”
The research appears in Sleep Health: The Journal of the National Sleep Foundation.
Additional coauthors are from Columbia; the University of California, San Diego; and the University of Chicago.
Support for the work came from the National Institutes of Health and the Diabetes Research and Training Center at the University of Chicago.
Source: University of Chicago
