Food for sleep

A good sleep is important for your overall health and wellbeing, and it’s recommended that you get between seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.

But sometimes there’s barriers to sleep, including food.

Yes, if ‘you are what you eat’ then think of this process as: ‘what you eat is how you’ll sleep’.

The sleep superheroes are two chemicals: tryptophan and melatonin.

How tryptophan and melatonin help with sleep

Amplar Health dietitian, Laura Thomas, advises that before you change your diet to improve your sleep, you must understand the role that tryptophan and melatonin play in the body.

“Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, which is a building block of protein that is not produced by the body and must come from food,” says Thomas.

“Tryptophan is crucial to produce two hormones in the brain that support sleep.”

Those two hormones are:

• Serotonin: a neurotransmitter and hormone that helps to regulate sleep and mood.
• Melatonin: a hormone your brain releases, usually when it gets dark to tell your body that it’s time to sleep.

What if you don’t get enough tryptophan?

Thomas points out that your body will react if it doesn’t get enough tryptophan.

“Insufficient tryptophan means your body produces less serotonin and melatonin,” says Thomas.

“This can lead to difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking or lighter sleep, low mood, and difficulty focusing during the day.”

Foods with tryptophan 

Thomas advises that foods higher in tryptophan help your body to produce the chemicals it needs to create the best conditions for sleep.

“…chicken, turkey, eggs, dairy products, tofu, nuts and seeds, fatty fish, lentils or beans, and oats,” says Thomas.

“These foods can support your body to produce serotonin and melatonin, which are important for healthy sleep and mood.”

Foods with melatonin

According to Thomas, there’s an excellent selection of tasty foods that contain melatonin

“…tart cherries, nuts (pistachios, walnuts), fruit (kiwi fruit, grapes, bananas) and cereals such as oats, fatty fish (salmon/tuna), eggs and milk can help increase melatonin levels in your body, which may make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep,” says Thomas.

And there’s many more foods with melatonin to add to your grocery list:

• cherry juice
• pistachios
• almonds 
• walnuts
• grapes
• bananas
• tomatoes
• oats
• rice
• salmon 
• tuna

Thomas highly recommends the combination of tryptophan-rich foods with carbohydrates, such as bread, rice, fruit and vegetables.

“[These foods] allow tryptophan to enter the brain faster and create melatonin and serotonin,” says Thomas.

“This is because insulin is released from the pancreas when you eat carbohydrates, which removes other amino acids from the blood that may compete with tryptophan to enter the brain.”

Healthy bedtime snack ideas

Need a little bedtime-friendly snack inspiration? Here’s a handy list:

• whole-grain crackers with cheese or turkey 
• Greek yoghurt with berries; add nuts and seeds if you can
• warm milk or a small bowl of cereal
• wholegrain toast or banana with nut butter like peanut or almond.

Is it bad to eat before bed?

Look, you won’t go to jail, but Thomas says it’s good to have a deadline for when you limit what you eat or drink before bed.

“It is best to finish eating two – three hours before you go to bed,” says Thomas.

“This gives your body time to digest the food, helps prevent heartburn, and keeps your blood sugar steady at night.”

But what if you get hungry?

“If you are hungry close to bedtime, choose a small snack like a yoghurt, banana, a handful of nuts or wholegrain crackers.”

Other pre-bed food tips that dietitian Laura Thomas recommends include:

• Late dinner close to bedtime? Eat a small meal with more carbohydrates (rice, bread, potatoes) and less protein and fat because these meals take longer to digest. 
• Aim to drink most of your water and other beverages earlier in the day, so you are less likely to wake up for bathroom trips during the night.
• Thirsty? A little water, herbal tea, or a glass of milk should not cause problems for most people. 

What are the worst foods for sleep?

There are several foods you should avoid or limit if you want to improve the quality of your sleep. 

Thomas points out that most of these foods either stimulate your brain or make your body work hard to process or digest.

Caffeine; coffee, tea, energy drinks, and chocolate

“Keeps your brain awake and alert which is not good before bedtime,” says Thomas.

“…having multiple sources of caffeine across the day adds up, increasing the total amount in your body. This is why it is best to have your last coffee or source of caffeine 6-8 hours before bedtime … so it is less likely to impact on your sleep. 

“Caffeine can make it harder to feel tired, take longer to fall asleep, and cause you to wake up more during the night as it disrupts deep sleep.”

Alcohol

“Might make you feel sleepy at first, but it reduces overall sleep quality,” says Thomas.

“Alcohol can cause you to wake up more often, reduces deep sleep and REM sleep (when the brain sorts memories and repairs itself) and cause you to make more bathroom trips during the night (as alcohol is a diuretic). 

“Your heart can also beat faster, which may wake you up or make you feel restless. If you do drink, try to finish 3-4 hours before bed and stick to Australian standard drink guidelines; no more than 4 standard drinks per day or less than 10 standard drinks per week.”

Large, high-fat or greasy meals

“Takes longer to digest and can make your stomach feel uncomfortable or cause bloating or heartburn,” says Thomas. 

“This is due to the blood and energy that diverts to our gut to digest food which keeps our body active and can make it hard to fall asleep.”

Spicy foods

“Can trigger heartburn and make your body feel hotter, which can disrupt your sleep,” says Thomas.

High-sugar snacks

“Can cause blood-sugar spikes and drops that can wake you up at night,” says Thomas.

Food is just one of the lifestyle changes you can make to improve the quality of your sleep. 

If you need more inspiration, try our sleep hygiene checklist or re-think your bedroom setup.