With lack of sleep already such a problem among North Americans, taking some simple dietary steps to promote better slumber may be something to consider before bedtime.

A small study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (2016; 12 [1]) found that consuming more saturated fat, more sugar and less fiber is associated with lighter, less restorative and more disrupted sleep. Results showed that greater fiber intake predicted more time spent in the stage of deep, slow-wave sleep. In contrast, a higher percentage of energy from saturated fat predicted less slow-wave sleep. Greater sugar intake was also associated with more arousals from sleep.

“Our main finding was that diet quality influenced sleep quality,” said principal investigator Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, assistant professor in the department of medicine and the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. “It was most surprising that a single day of greater fat intake and lower fiber could influence sleep parameters.”

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