Could What You Eat Affect How You Sleep?

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Did you know that what you eat could affect how you sleep? I’ve been doing some reading about this recently and found some interesting data.

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Not eating enough fat, carbohydrates, or protein has been linked to less quality sleep.

Caffeine and alcohol have been found to reduce sleep quality. Especially if it’s taken 2-3 hours before bedtime.

Foods that contain tryptophan have been found to improve sleep quality. While more information is needed on how food impacts sleep, research makes clear that sleep patterns influence how a person eats and how the body responds to food.

Sleeping fewer than seven hours per night for adults may increase hunger and make sugary and fattening foods seem more rewarding. Which leads to overeating.

Not getting enough sleep may also reduce the body’s ability to break down sugar, leading to an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart problems.

Research Suggests That These Foods May Help You Sleep:

• Tart cherry juice
• Cherries, especially the Jerte Valley and Montmorency tart cherry varieties
• Kiwi fruit
• Oily and fatty fish, like herring, mackerel, salmon, tuna, sardines, trout, and krill
• Oysters
• Poultry
• Milk & cheese
• Eggs
• Breads
• Beans
• Pumpkin seeds
• A diet high in vegetables
• Grain mixes containing tryptophan

So What Is Tryptophan?

Tryptophan is a naturally occurring amino acid found in many foods.

The body uses tryptophan to help make melatonin and serotonin. Melatonin helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle, and serotonin is thought to help regulate appetite, sleep, mood, and pain.

Eating simple carbohydrates that quickly turn into sugar in the bloodstream four hours before sleep has also been found to help people fall asleep faster.

Studies have also found that high-sugar and high-carbohydrate diets are associated with worse sleep.

What Foods Can Hurt Sleep?

• Foods and drinks containing caffeine 
• Foods and drinks containing alcohol 
• High-fat foods, especially saturated fat
• High-sugar foods
• Foods low in tryptophan
• Diets low in fiber 
• Diets high in carbohydrates and low in fat 

Also, skipping meals and snacking between meals or after dinner may reduce sleep quality and quantity. Eating too much food or too close to bedtime may also interfere with sleep.

So how do you aim for the right balance?

Try These Research-Backed Tips:

• Consume a balanced diet
• Eat fruits and vegetables
• Eat at regular times (meal timing can affect your circadian rhythms).
• Avoid sleep disruptors (like caffeine or alcohol)
• Avoid nighttime acid reflux

Digestion continues while you are sleeping. But digestion at night differs from digestion during the day. The muscle activity that moves food through the esophagus, stomach, and intestines slows down during sleep.

A person’s basal metabolic rate, or the amount of energy their brain and body uses, overall decreases during sleep.

However, metabolic rate increases during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This stage of sleep is known for vivid dreaming and’s more common in the second half of the night.

Some research suggests that maintaining good sleep health is associated with weight and fat loss. Not getting enough sleep may lead to weight gain.

Sleeping less than the recommended amount is linked to a higher risk of developing obesity due to hormone dysregulation. Not getting enough sleep may make a person feel hungrier, eat more, choose less healthy foods, and be less physically active.

Although diet hasn’t been found to directly cause sleep disorders, some ways of eating may be related to or worsen sleep disorders.

Poor nutrition has been found to contribute to insomnia. Unhealthy eating may lead to obesity, and obesity increases a person’s risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Eating Habits That Improve Sleep:

The key to better nighttime rest is choosing an eating regimen rich in compounds that promote sleep.

This doesn’t come down to any one food or ingredient. It’s more of a holistic profile with various helpful components.

Avoid foods that cause inflammation

A common denominator between unhealthy carbs and saturated fats is that both can cause inflammation throughout the body, which is linked to lower sleep quality and duration.

Start eating early, stop eating early

Having meals too close to bedtime can hinder sleep. Wrap up eating for the day a few hours before bed.

Your final meal could feature a plant-based protein such as tofu—which is filling, contains tryptophan, and keeps inflammation low.

How Inflammation Affects Sleep:

Inflammation and sleep have a powerful two-way link. When inflammation is high, immune proteins can change brain activity and sleep cycles, making it hard to get deep rest. At the same time, lack of sleep creates more inflammation, creating a hard cycle to break.

• Brain Signal Changes: Immune proteins called cytokines (like Interleukin-1 and TNF-alpha) act on the brain to change how you sleep.
• Less Deep Sleep: Inflammation often reduces slow-wave deep sleep and REM sleep, which are the most healing parts of the night.
• Pain and Discomfort: Swelling and joint or muscle pain from chronic conditions make it hard to fall and stay asleep.
• Hypothalamic Stress: Systemic inflammation affects the brain’s control center, triggering a fight-or-flight nervous system response that keeps you awake.

The Return Loop: Poor Sleep Fuels Inflammation

• Higher Stress Hormones: Poor sleep keeps stress hormones like cortisol high, which prevents the body from lowering inflammation at night.
• More Inflammatory Markers: Sleep loss raises blood markers like C-reactive protein and IL-6.
• Less Brain Cleaning: Poor rest stops the brain’s glymphatic system from clearing out waste proteins properly.

So inflammation, diet, and sleep are intertwined.

Inflammation, diet, and sleep are deeply and cyclically intertwined. What you eat affects inflammation, inflammation disrupts sleep, and poor sleep triggers even more inflammation.

Supporting Trytophan:

A healthy carb like chickpeas supports tryptophan’s passage into the brain. Time it 2-4 hours before bed; that’s when tryptophan levels in the body peak. 

Sleep and nutrition are a balance we must maintain to stay healthy.