A Healthy Diet May Be Linked to Better Sleep

Sleep is critical for memory, learning and other important brain functions. What’s more, research shows that what you eat affects how well you sleep.

Research published in the January 2016 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that when people ate a healthy diet, they went to sleep more quickly and got more restorative sleep than when they ate a diet that was lower in fiber and higher in sugar and saturated fat (butter, cheese, cream and fatty meat).

The study reveals that diet can play a role in quality of sleep, “and we should look at diet as a way of improving sleep in those who have sleep difficulties,” says lead author Marie-Pierre St-Onge, an assistant professor the department of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, N.Y.

St-Onge and colleagues monitored a small group of 26 normal-weight, healthy adults in a sleep lab for five nights. For four days, the participants were fed a healthful diet during the day. It was high in fiber and low in sugar and saturated fat. About 7.5% of total calories came from saturated fat. On the fifth day of the study, participants could eat whatever they wanted. They chose meals and snacks that were lower in fiber and higher in sugar and saturated fat (10% of calories) than the healthy diet.

Researchers compared participants’ sleep patterns from one night after healthy eating to the night after the self-selected diet. Findings:

• Participants fell asleep in an average of 17 minutes after a day of healthy eating vs. 29 minutes when they chose their own less nutritious foods.
• A greater intake of saturated fat and a lower intake of fiber were associated with less slow-wave sleep. Slow-wave sleep is deep sleep, and brain restoration and memory consolidation happen during deep sleep, St-Onge says.
• A higher sugar intake was associated with more micro-awakenings, which are times when people transition to a lighter stage of sleep but don’t completely awaken, she says.

The study indicates that the same kind of healthy diet that is important for heart health and the prevention of diabetes, and cancer is the one you should follow to get good sleep, St-Onge says.

Eve Van Cauter, director of the Sleep, Metabolism and Health Center at the University of Chicago, says, these findings “are novel and suggest that overeating and consuming more sugar and saturated fat may promote symptoms of insomnia.”