Vegetables and fruits are not only good for the skin and metabolism but also good for health - Illustration: QUANG DINH
According to a study published in the journal Sleep Health , study participants improved their sleep when they increased their daily fruit intake. In fact, the improvement was quite immediate, suggesting that consuming more fruits and vegetables may contribute to a reduction in next-day insomnia.
Simple changes to your diet can help you fall asleep more easily at night and help you hone your ability to focus on what you should do to improve your sleep, rather than what you should avoid, according to study author Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
"We often make recommendations about what to avoid for healthy sleep, like not drinking caffeine too late, not drinking too much alcohol," St-Onge told Health magazine. "It's good to know that there are foods that actually help improve sleep."
Sleep quality is also related to diet.
To investigate the effects of daily diet on sleep, Prof. St-Onge and other researchers recruited 34 participants aged 20-49, mostly men. Initially, all participants were in good health and had no history of sleep problems.
The study consisted of two six-week periods, separated by a month. The team asked participants to record all the food and drink they consumed over several days, and also tracked their sleep using a wrist-worn actigraphy device (like a smartwatch).
At the end of the study, the researchers looked for links between the participants’ diets and sleep quality. Specifically, they looked at sleep disruption, which is the number of times participants woke up during the night, according to St-Onge.
The results showed that:
Consuming more fruits and vegetables during the day may lead to less interrupted sleep. Higher carbohydrate and fiber intake may lead to better sleep quality. High consumption of red meat and processed meat may lead to poorer sleep quality.
In particular, increasing from 0 to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day (each serving is 1 cup (250ml), of which raw vegetables excluding leafy vegetables 1 cup (125ml), leafy vegetables 1 cup (250ml), cooked vegetables 1 cup (125ml) can help improve sleep quality by 16%.
Interestingly, added sugar had no link to sleep quality, suggesting that “carbohydrates and fiber from fruits and vegetables are likely contributing factors to improved sleep quality,” the study authors wrote.
Essentially, this means that a person's daily eating habits can directly affect the quality of their night's sleep, explains Virginia-based nutritionist Brannon Blount.
"While we often think of sleep and diet as two separate health goals, this study shows the connection between them," Brannon told Health magazine.
A healthy diet helps reduce the risk of obesity and helps you sleep well - Illustration photo
A healthy lifestyle will make you healthier, but eating is most important to sleep
Research also shows that people who eat healthy tend to have healthier lifestyles, they may exercise more regularly, which also contributes to improved sleep.
“We adjusted for all these factors, and even after we did, we still found that it was the healthy diet that was associated with better sleep,” says St-Onge.
Currently, the most popular hypothesis is that carbohydrates may increase the absorption of tryptophan from food into the brain. "This is an amino acid that is converted into serotonin and then into melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep," the expert explains.
According to experts, fruits and vegetables are also rich in fiber, vitamins and antioxidants, which help improve brain, hormone and gut health, thereby supporting better sleep.
Fruits and vegetables should be added to the daily diet.
Making sure you eat enough fruits and vegetables every day can feel overwhelming. But making small changes can make the task easier.
In fact, adding a serving or two of vegetables to your meals is pretty easy: You can have a side salad, or add spinach to soups or noodles.
Another way to make things easier is that fruits and vegetables are still very healthy even if they aren't fresh.
“Frozen, canned, pre-washed, or pre-cut produce all count and can help you reach your five-cup-a-day goal without too much time or effort,” she says.
Ultimately, adding fruits and vegetables will be different for everyone, so it's important to find the method that works best for you.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ban-co-biet-nhung-mon-an-co-the-giup-ban-cai-thien-chat-luong-giac-ngu-20250717085219475.htm
Comment (0)