What You Eat Influences How You Sleep

What you eat and how you sleep are no longer considered unrelated processes. Researchers at the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University Medical Center have found that eating less fiber, more saturated fat and more sugar is associated with lighter, less restorative, and more disrupted sleep. A news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports that a recent randomized, crossover study involved 26 adults – 13 men and 13 women – who had a normal weight and an average age of 35. During five nights in a sleep lab, participants spent nine hours in bed from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., sleeping for seven hours and 35 minutes on average per night. Sleep data, gathered nightly by polysomnograhy, were analyzed from night 3, after 3 days of controlled feeding, and night 5, after one day of food intake. Ready? The envelope please… The researchers found that greater fiber intake predicted more time spent in the stage of deep, slow wave sleep, and, in contrast, a higher percentage of energy from saturated fat predicted less slow wave sleep. Greater sugar intake also was associated with more arousals from sleep. “Our main finding was that diet quality influenced sleep quality,” said principal investigator Marie-Pierre St-Onge. “It was most surprising that a single day of greater fat intake and lower fiber could influence sleep parameters.” The study also found that participants fell asleep faster after eating fixed meals provided by a nutritionist, which were lower in saturated fat and higher in protein than self-selected meals. It took participants an average of 29 minutes to fall asleep after consuming foods and beverages of their choice, but only 17 minutes to fall asleep after eating controlled meals.