Eat Better; Sleep Better!

Getting a good night’s sleep is not easy for a lot of people. But the solution might

be a lot easier than you think.

People have reported getting better sleep when they eat better quality diets,

including eating more fruit and vegetables. But this new study is the first to use

objective measures to test that observation.

The results were spectacular both for the impact of diet on sleep and for the

immediacy of the results.

The 34 people in the study were younger American adults. The ones who ate

more fruits and vegetables during the day woke up less often during the night

and had significantly better sleep cycles and better quality of sleep. The same

was true for eating more complex carbohydrates.

Though it did not reach significance, there was a trend toward more disrupted

sleep for red and processed meat and a trend toward less disrupted sleep with

more fiber and magnesium.

There were two amazing things about this study. The first is how much that

simple change can improve your sleep. Eating 5 cups of fruits and vegetables a

day, which is the recommended daily amount anyway, improved sleep by a

remarkable 16%.

The second is how fast it worked. You don’t have to wait weeks or months to see

results. If you eat more fruits, vegetables and complex carbohydrates today,

you’ll sleep 16% better tonight. The results were seen the same day, meaning

changing your diet can change your sleep in less than 24 hours.

Sleep Health. October 2025;11(5):590-596.