Having trouble sleeping? Maybe it’s your diet
A new study suggests more fruits and vegetables could lead to more shut-eye
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Photo by Jacopo Maiarelli on Unsplash
Key Insights
- Eating fruits and vegetables daily can lead to a 16% improvement in sleep quality the same night.
- Better sleep supports memory, learning, mood, and long-term health — and may be influenced by what’s on your plate.
- Simple dietary changes, like reaching for produce and whole grains, could offer a cost-free path to better rest.
It’s no secret that aging can produce changes in sleep patterns that interfere with a good night’s rest. The National Institutes of Health has reported that older adults have an increased prevalence of primary sleep disorders, including insomnia, sleep disordered breathing, restless legs syndrome, REM sleep behavior disorder, and circadian rhythm disturbances.
But could the answer be in plain sight, in the supermarket produce aisle? A new study suggests it might.
The study, published in Sleep Health: The Journal of the National Sleep Foundation, has focused on a compelling link between what you eat during the day and how well you sleep at night. Led by researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine and Columbia University, the research suggests that consuming more fruits, vegetables, and complex carbohydrates could improve sleep quality in as little as one day.
Diet’s role in the science of sleep
While sleep deprivation has long been known to affect dietary habits — driving cravings for sugar and fat — this study flips the perspective to investigate how diet might influence sleep. The researchers used objective sleep measures and food tracking to show a direct, same-day connection between dietary quality and nighttime rest.
Participants were healthy adults who logged their meals using an app and wore wrist monitors that recorded sleep activity. The key metric researchers focused on was “sleep fragmentation,” which measures how often someone wakes up or transitions between sleep phases throughout the night. Less fragmentation equals better sleep.
The study found that people who consumed more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains experienced deeper and more continuous sleep. In fact, those who met the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s daily recommendation of five cups of fruits and vegetables saw sleep quality improvements of up to 16% compared to those who didn’t eat any.
“Sixteen percent is a highly significant difference,” said Dr. Esra Tasali, co-senior author and Director of the UChicago Sleep Center. “It’s remarkable that such a meaningful change could be observed within less than 24 hours.”