How far are you willing to go to get a better night’s rest? Ditching your pre-bedtime doomscrolling, turning down the AC, and counting sheep are a few ways people have tried to optimize sleep. Now, according to a study published August 2026 in the academic journal Nature Health, it turns out that changing up your diet can have some seriously beneficial effects on your shut-eye.
Researchers sought to find the impact of daily diet on sleep quality, measuring the sleep quality and duration of 3,598 participants. The study found that increasing a specific nutrient and better timing your last meal of the day could not only help you get a deeper sleep at night but also add a few extra minutes for you to catch some Z’s. What the study found
According to the findings of the study, high-fiber diets resulted in deeper sleep.
Researchers came to this conclusion after finding that those who had consumed more fiber in the day had lower sleeping heart rates, which is “consistent with a greater shift toward parasympathetic activity, the rest-and-recovery side of the nervous system,” Coco Pierrel, a certified integrative nutritionist and founder of Eat Shed Glo, tells GQ. What Pierrel finds interesting about the results is that it didn’t require that much fiber to help increase time spent in the deep sleep phase, which is important for your body’s recovery.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ recommendation for daily
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ recommendation for daily fiber intake is about 14 grams per 1,000 calories consumed. In this study, participants who partook in high-fiber days averaged about 15.7 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories and those who partook in low fiber days averaged 9.1 grams per 1,000 calories. “These were realistic differences in everyday eating, and the associations showed up that same night,” Pierrel says.
“It is an observational finding, so it does not tell us that fiber caused those changes, but it is a pattern worth studying further.”
Another notable finding from the study was that calorie-loading closer to sleep—about six hours before bedtime—resulted in a few extra minutes slept at night (around 7.7 minutes). Now, a couple extra minutes of time in your siesta doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting more restorative sleep, but it is a nice-to-know if you care about getting a certain number of hours every night (say, if you’re trying to pay off your sleep debt to quiet your nagging Oura ring).
Why might fiber help with sleep? This study isn’t the first to associate high-fiber diets with better sleep. Dr. Daniella Marchetti, PhD, DBSM, a clinical health psychologist specializing in behavioral sleep medicine at Rise Science, cites an 2016 study by St-Onge that found greater fiber intake was associated with more slow-wave sleep, or the third stage of REM sleep that’s crucial to the body’s recovery process.
Higher-fiber diets tend to come from whole plant
“Higher-fiber diets tend to come from whole plant foods, which bring along a variety of nutrients and phytochemicals and can also influence the gut microbiome, inflammation, glucose regulation, and metabolic health–all systems that may interact with sleep,” Marchetti says. She also mentions that those who consume more fiber and plant-based foods might inherently have different dietary habits than those who consume less of that.
For example, they may exercise more or experience different levels of stress, though she notes the researchers of the study did try to “address confounding factors more rigorously than a simple correlation study.”
What should I eat to sleep better? Based on the results of this study, you might be itching to stock up on some high-fiber foods. But what exactly should you add to the grocery list?
“A practical goal is to work toward 30 different plant foods across the week,” Pierrel says. “Vegetables and fruit count, but so do beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices. Oatmeal with blueberries, walnuts, chia seeds and cinnamon gives you five different plants in one breakfast.”
Also, don’t forget about your other macros. In addition to upping your fiber, make sure you continue to eat protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates, which help moderate blood sugar spikes, as “sleep and glucose regulation are closely connected.”
This study may influence you to start piling on the vegetables on your plate, but getting a better night’s sleep isn’t as easy as simply fibermaxxing.
“You cannot out-broccoli a day that is working against your sleep,” Pierrel says.
Source: www.gq.com
