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Insomnia is a curse we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy — and scientists have discovered a startlingly simple lifestyle change that appears to be very statistically effective at preventing it.
In a new study published in the journal Sleep Health, researchers from Columbia and the University of Chicago report that eating a full day’s serving worth of fruits and vegetables strongly appears to help people sleep more soundly throughout the night.
Interrupted sleep, which is known as “sleep fragmentation” to researchers, has been found to induce a litany of grim health outcomes ranging from heart failure to diabetes and cognitive problems to cognitive dysfunction.
One major culprit might be a familiar one to many participants in our industrial food system: poor nutrition lacking in fresh fruits and veggies. The researchers recruited 34 healthy young adults with an average age of 28 years old who had no known sleep issues before. The participants were tasked with tagging their food input into an app for 201 days, and wore wrist monitors that tracked their sleep throughout.
After analyzing the data from the app and wrist monitors with statistical modeling, the researchers found that sleep quality can improve up to a staggering 16 percent after eating five cups of fruit and vegetables — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of a full day’s serving — as compared to a diet that lacks produce.
What’s more, the effects were effectively instantaneous: sleep improvements took place the very same nights that participants reported eating lots of fruits and vegetables.
“It’s remarkable that such a meaningful change could be observed within less than 24 hours,” explained UChicago sleep expert Esra Tasali said in the school’s press release.
Though 16 percent may not seem like much, Tasali characterized it as a “highly significant difference.”
It’s possible, per Columbia’s statement on the study, that the amino acid tryptophan — the same one cited in anecdata about getting sleepy post-Thanksgiving turkey — might be responsible.
Fruits and vegetables contain carbohydrates that help the brain absorb tryptophan, Columbia explains, which in turn helps aid the production of the sleepy hormone melatonin. Though you can purchase synthetic melatonin supplements at the store, it’s tastier and healthier to get your brain to produce it for you by eating produce.
Five cups may seem a bit daunting, but the researchers insist that eating more fruits and vegetables in general can help you sleep better even if you don’t reach that full serving.
“People are always asking me if there are things they can eat that will help them sleep better,” author Marie-Pierre St-Onge, the director of Columbia’s sleep center, said in the school’s press release. “Small changes can impact sleep. That is empowering — better rest is within your control.”
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