The Secret to Better Sleep Could Be as Simple as Eating More Fruit and Veggies

11:45:29

2025-07-02

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We know that sleep quality is important for many different aspects of our health, and there are multiple ways to get better shut-eye – including the right bedroom environment, regular exercise, and according to the latest research, lots of fruit and vegetables.

The research was led by a team from the University of Chicago and Columbia University in New York, and connects fruit and vegetable intake during the day with the quality of sleep that same night.

As sleep aids go, putting a bit more fruit and veg on your plate is a pretty good option: it's cheap, it's natural, and you don't need a prescription. And then of course you get all the other benefits of these foodstuffs too.

"The temporal associations and objectively-measured outcomes in this study represent crucial steps toward filling a gap in important public health knowledge," says Esra Tasali, sleep scientist at the University of Chicago.

The research involved 34 healthy young adults, who were asked to record their eating habits for up to a week. Wearable devices were then used to check for sleep fragmentation: essentially, how often people wake up or switch between sleep phases.

Participants who ate more fruit and veg tended to have a smoother night of sleep, the researchers found. The same was true for those who ate more healthy carbohydrates, such as whole grains – and the researchers think it's the carbohydrates and fiber in the fruit and veggies that are having the strongest effect.

Via a statistical modeling approach, the researchers suggest that eating the recommended five cups of fruits and vegetables per day could improve sleep quality by 16 percent. One cup would be the equivalent of 8 large strawberries, a medium potato, or 22 grapes.

"16 percent is a highly significant difference," says Tasali. "It's remarkable that such a meaningful change could be observed within less than 24 hours."

While the data from this research isn't enough on its own to show direct cause and effect – other factors, such as income, could have been influencing both diet and sleep – the study team did find a significant relationship here.

This also fits in with what is previously known about a good diet being linked to good sleep. It's an association that makes sense, with our health closely tied to both how much rest we're getting, and what we're putting into our bodies.

There's also likely to be something of a feedback loop going on here as well – which further studies could look into more closely – because research suggests that poor sleep then makes us more likely to crave unhealthy foods.

What we can say for sure about sleep is that a lot of factors contribute to its quality, whether that's body temperature or the timing of our slumbers. It's also something that a lot of us struggle with, so different approaches to improving sleep are always welcome.

"People are always asking me if there are things they can eat that will help them sleep better," says Marie-Pierre St-Onge, nutritionist at Columbia University. "Small changes can impact sleep. That is empowering – better rest is within your control."