How your food choices and meal timing may improve sleep

If you have ever tried to fall asleep after a belly full of pepperoni pizza and a few beers, you may have spent the night tossing and turning.

That kind of meal can bring on heartburn and other digestive problems, and it can also make sleep harder to come by, according to the Sleep Foundation.

A healthier diet, eaten at the right time, may do the opposite and help you fall asleep more easily while improving sleep quality, according to a study published in Nature. The research found that diets higher in fiber were linked to slightly more deep and REM sleep, along with a lower nighttime heart rate.

That finding does not surprise Dr. Steven Thau, a sleep specialist at Hartford HealthCare. He said people who eat high-fiber foods will likely sleep better than those who eat a steak or a large bowl of pasta because fiber is not digested in the same way and does not require the digestive system to work as hard. “The gut has to sleep as well,” he said.

Dietitian Danielle Sanders of Yale Medicine said foods that support sleep tend to be healthier overall because of the nutrients they provide. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds contain many compounds that can aid sleep, she said, including magnesium, which helps relax the nerves.

Donna Bernard, a dietitian at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare, agreed and added that tryptophan and melatonin are also important for sleep. Sanders said foods rich in those nutrients, as well as vitamin B-6 and potassium, may help. Bernard noted that tryptophan can be found in chia, sesame and pumpkin seeds, milk and dairy products, edamame, turkey, fatty fish, tofu, quinoa and bananas. Other foods, including kiwi, may also help; a 2023 study in Nutrients found kiwi improved recovery and sleep in elite athletes. Erica Seebeck of Northwell Health said she likes Greek yogurt because it contains tryptophan and is high in protein.

Protein is a “high satiety food” that helps suppress hunger, Seebeck said. She added that she is a big fan of protein shakes.

By contrast, the typical American diet can work against sleep. Thau pointed to a CDC analysis showing that 55% of total calories come from ultra-processed foods, with burgers, sandwiches, sweet baked goods and salty snacks making up a large share of the diet.

“If people are watching Netflix eating pretzels, potato chips, taking in a lot of salt right before they go to bed, it’s not at all conducive to sleep,” he said.

A 2024 review in Nutrients also found an association between eating more ultra-processed foods and insomnia.

Thau said these habits can also contribute to weight gain because the body has little chance to burn off the calories before sleep. He added that work-related stress often pushes people to keep working at home, skip proper meals and then overeat late at night when they are extremely hungry. Eating large amounts of high-calorie, ultra-processed food late at night, he said, does not give the body enough time to metabolize it.

He advises patients to bring dinner rather than lunch to work so they do not come home overly hungry and eat everything in sight. When people arrive home famished, he said, they lose control over appetite and are more likely to store the food as fat.

Sanders and Thau both recommend avoiding food for two to three hours before bedtime.