Don’t sleep on this nutrient.
If you’re not getting enough sleep, you could be missing out on some vital dietary staples. But you shouldn’t only aim for more sleep, but quality, deep sleep as well.
And recent research has shown one essential nutrient could be the key — especially as it also helps digestion, has anti-cancer properties, prevents diabetes and more.
What we eat throughout the day affects our sleep, and an extra helping of one superstar nutrient could lead to the necessary seven to nine hours most adults need.
And the most comprehensive study to date has revealed that we need to eat enough fiber throughout the day to sleep well that night.
Not only does increasing your fiber intake throughout the day help you achieve a deep sleep state, but consuming a wide variety of fiberous foods could help you nod off sooner.
Researchers analyzed sleep and dietary data collected from more than 3,500 adults over two consecutive days.
They then wore an FDA-approved device to measure sleep using sensors on the chest, wrist and a finger to track snoring, blood oxygen levels and heart and breathing rates.
The measurements were used to determine how long the participants spent in the four stages of sleep: light sleep (which is broken into two stages), the deep, restorative phase and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
The team also used a computational model to determine how 25 dietary factors affected each night’s sleep, and accounted for age, sex, caffeine intake and dietary and sleep data from the previous day that could skew the results.
Those who ate more than the average of 21 grams of fiber per day got better sleep than those who ate below the average.
The group who ate above-average amounts spent 3.4% more time in the deep sleep stage and 2.3% less of it in light sleep.
While previous studies have linked high-fiber diets to better sleep, the results weren’t the most accurate, as they relied on participants to self-report diets or didn’t track light and deep sleep.
Researchers aren’t entirely sure why fiber affects sleep as it does, but other studies suggest that gut microbes ferment it into short-chain fatty acids that reduce inflammation and change gut-brain signaling to promote deeper sleep.
Increased fiber intake could also lead to a slightly slower heart rate, as observed during the initial study, suggesting the person has entered a deep state of rest.
But variety also played a role, as those who ate more than five types of plant-based foods a day fell asleep slightly faster than those who ate less.
This variation in fiber sources provides a range of vitamins, mineral and other nutritious molecules like polyphenols that reduce inflammation and move the nervous system into rest-and-digest mode.
