Written by Life Alive Resident Dietitian, Jasmin Dieb
You spend about one-third of your life sleeping, so let's ensure that you’re having the best sleep everyday. Yes, comfy pillows and a warm cup of tea definitely help, but one often-overlooked piece of the sleep puzzle starts earlier—way earlier. It starts on your plate. What you eat during the day directly impacts how you sleep at night. Small changes, big dreams!
Why Sleep Really Matters
You’ve heard that we’re supposed to obtain between 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Your parents, teachers, and internet health gurus have instilled that into your brain. But why? The reason being that sleep plays a major role in maintaining proper health and well being. High quality sleep ensures heart health, proper metabolism, a healthy immune system, and most importantly regulated hormonal health. This is where the concept of your circadian rhythms come in.
Your circadian rhythm is your body’s internal clock that runs on a 24-hour cycle. This rhythm tells your body when to release certain hormones, and in turn, helps you stay energized during the day and wind down at night.
In the morning our bodies release a hormone called cortisol and at night our bodies release melatonin. Cortisol promotes alertness while melatonin promotes sleep and rest. You want to ensure that you’re supporting your body’s ability to release these hormones at the times it should. Any disruptions in our circadian rhythms can lead to more than just sleep complications, they can lead to digestive issues, unregulated metabolism and especially poor mental health.
Is There a “Right” Time to Eat?
Optimizing your sleep is less about following a rigid timetable for meals and more about optimizing your eating schedule with your circadian rhythms. Why? Not only do our circadian rhythms initiate our sleep and wake cycle, they signal feeding and fasting. Our bodies require a specific amount of energy (calories) each day from carbs, protein, fiber and fats. You want to ensure that you eat adequately throughout the day to promote regularity when it comes to both your circadian rhythms and digestive patterns. This way you avoid late night bites and eating heavy meals at night.
It’s not about the “right” time to eat, but supporting your body enough during its “feeding” state—giving your body enough nutrients during the biological time frame that it needs energy.
Sleep Disrupting Foods
If you’re struggling to fall asleep or stay asleep, you may want to take a look at what’s on your plate (or in your cup) in the hours leading up to bedtime. Believe it or not, eating and sleeping against your circadian rhythms can increase your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Here are some common sleep-disrupting culprits to be mindful of:
1. Caffeine (Beyond Just Coffee): caffeine hides in more places than you'd think—black tea, green tea, darjeeling tea, hot chocolate, energy drinks and even some supplements. Consuming caffeine too late in the day can delay melatonin production (your sleepy hormone), making it harder for your body to wind down.
2. Alcohol: whether it's one glass or two at the end of the night, alcohol can disrupt a part of your sleep cycle called REM sleep. During REM sleep your brain cells communicate with one another—improving memory. It also helps your brain process emotions and improve problem solving abilities. People who get less REM sleep may have a greater risk of developing dementia for these reasons.
3. Heavy, High-Fat Meals: Fatty or fried foods take longer to digest, which can lead to uncomfortable GI symptoms, especially when you lie down.
4. Spicy Foods: Spices help diversify our total plant intake, but eating spicy meals close to bedtime can potentially lead to uncomfortable upper GI symptoms like heartburn and acid reflux. Make sure to avoid any foods that cause digestive upset.
5. Sugar and Refined Carbs: sugar and refined carbs can spike your blood sugar at any time of the day. So, having them near bedtime may disrupt your sleep and keep you up later than normal.
Recommendations from a Dietitian
Now that we know how closely connected food and sleep really are, here’s what a registered dietitian might recommend to help you eat in sync with your body’s biological rhythms and set the stage for better sleep:
1. Front-load Your Nutrition: Try to consume the majority of your energy (calories) earlier in the day when your metabolism is most active. This allows your body to stay energized when it needs to be and allows it to properly unwind at night without working overtime.
2. Watch the Caffeine (and Sugar): Maybe that 4PM coffee at work or 9PM cookie isn’t the best idea. Caffeine has a half-life of about 6 hours, which means it can stay in your body throughout the night, leading to disrupted sleep and possibly nightmares. Aim to cut off caffeine between 1- 2PM.
3. Choose Sleep-Supportive Foods: Incorporate foods that are naturally rich in sleep-promoting nutrients like magnesium, vitamin B6, and melatonin. Here are a few to keep on hand:
Almonds and pumpkin seeds (magnesium)
Potatoes, bananas, and chickpeas (B6)
Oats and cherries (natural melatonin boosters)
4. Limit Heavy, Late-Night Meals: Having these close to bedtime can impact digestion negatively and make it harder for you to fall asleep. Try to eat your last meal at least 2 hours before going to bed.
5. Stay Hydrated (But Not Too Late): Hydration is key for overall health, but too much liquid right before bed can lead to frequent wake-ups. Keep sipping throughout the day and taper off in the evening.
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Author: Jasmin Dieb, RDN
Jasmin Dieb is a Boston-based functional gut health dietitian who’s all about helping people feel their best through real, nourishing food. She's joined Life Alive as our Resident Dietitian to break down the science and share simple, realistic tips—because eating well should feel good and taste even better. In her private practice, Jasmin provides personalized, evidence-based strategies to uncover the root causes of digestive symptoms and deliver lasting relief. She empowers her patients to understand how nutrition directly impacts gut health and overall well-being, offering realistic solutions that fit their lives.
If you’re ready to take control of your gut health, click here to work with Jasmin.
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