Eating more fruits and vegetables may optimize your sleep

Good health depends on a healthy diet and adequate exercise and sleep. There are clear connections between these factors. For example, many people report that good nutrition provides the energy they need to exercise, and getting enough exercise is important for getting enough sleep. So how does nutrition affect sleep?

A new study looks at the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and sleep duration. The study was conducted by a team from the University of Helsinki, the National Institute of Health and Welfare, and Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland. The forefront of nutrition.

Why sleep is important and how it works

Sleep gives our bodies an opportunity to rest and recover from waking activities. Our hearts, blood vessels, muscles, cells, immune systems, cognitive abilities, and memory formation depend on regular, healthy sleep to function optimally, and a 2019 study suggests that sleep is important for repairing DNA damage that occurs during wakefulness.

Restful sleep occurs in three to five nighttime cycles of 90 to 120 minutes each, on average. Each cycle begins with a stage of non-rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, followed by two increasingly deeper periods of non-REM sleep, before waking again. Non-REM sleep becomes lighter until you reach the REM stage, at which point a new cycle begins or you wake up. Adults should aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night.

However, recent studies have shown that insomnia and short sleep duration are becoming more common among adults. Due to factors such as stress, fast food consumption and a sedentary lifestyle, poor sleep has been linked to cardiovascular disease, impaired cognitive performance and increased overall mortality, emerging as a public health concern.

In the new study, researchers sought to explore how sleep duration affects fruit and vegetable intake, and vice versa, and also how an individual’s chronotype (preferred time of activity, such as morning or evening) influences food choices and sleep duration.

Recommended fruit and vegetable intake for adults

The World Health Organisation recommends that people eat at least 400g of fruit and vegetables every day, but the latest advice from the Nordic Council of Ministers recommends more, recommending “500 to 800g of vegetables, fruit and berries, half of which should come from vegetables”.

However, research has shown that adults in many countries do not meet the minimum intake: a new study shows that only 14% of Finnish men and 22% of women eat the minimum recommended intake of 500g of berries, fruit and vegetables per day.

The research team looked into the details of the 2017 National Financial Health Survey, which surveyed 5,043 adults aged 18 and over (55.9% female, average age 55). [SD 16.0]) completed a detailed 134-item questionnaire about the composition and frequency of their usual daily meals within the past 12 months, and reported their chronotype (tendency to sleep at certain times) and typical sleep duration within a 24-hour period.

These responses revealed three categories of sleep duration: short (<7 hours/day, 21%), normal (7-9 hours/day, 76.1%), and long (>9 hours/day, 2.9%). Short sleepers averaged 6 hours of sleep, normal sleepers averaged 7.7 hours, and long sleepers averaged 10.1 hours. The majority of participants (61.7%) classified themselves as intermediate chronotypes, 22.4% were morning types, and 15.9% were evening types.

The researchers noted that many studies have not included chronotype as a potential confounding factor, and included chronotype as a covariate in their study. However, some studies have shown that chronotype can influence eating behaviors. “Studies have shown that evening chronotype is often associated with unhealthy eating behaviors, including obesity-related eating patterns,” the researchers wrote.

Findings: Both quantity and specific choices of fruits and vegetables matter

Among the notable findings, across fruit and vegetable subgroups, normal sleepers had higher fruit and vegetable intakes than short and long sleepers, but intakes varied by type of fruit and vegetable.

“In the vegetable subgroup, significant differences were observed between normal and short sleepers in the intake of green leafy vegetables, root vegetables, and fruit vegetables (e.g., tomatoes, cucumbers),” the study explains.

“Similarly, when comparing normal sleep with long sleep duration, significant differences were found for green leafy vegetables and fruit vegetables. However, no significant differences were found for other fresh or canned vegetables such as cabbage, mushrooms, onions, peas and beans.”

“In the fruit subgroup, we found significant mean differences in the consumption of berries and other fresh and canned fruits between those with normal and short sleep durations. Conversely, we found a significant difference only in the consumption of apples between those with normal and long sleep durations.”

Association between fruit/vegetable intake and sleep duration category but not chronotype

The researchers also observed that the type of sleep duration could, to some extent, predict the level of fruit and vegetable intake, which is consistent with the results of a study conducted in 2023. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Adolescents were found to consume less fruits and vegetables the day after a night of short sleep.

The new study also found that chronotype plays a minimal role in the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and sleep duration. A 2023 study found no association between fruit and vegetable intake and chronotype.

Overall, the researchers found that reduced intake of certain fruits and vegetables was associated with shorter or longer sleep duration, and they recommend conducting more specific studies in this area to gain deeper insight.

“Focused intervention [fruit and vegetable] “Subgroups with more pronounced associations, such as green leafy and fruit vegetables, may lead to impactful behavior changes. Additional studies, especially longitudinal studies, are needed to better understand these associations and their public health implications, especially in regions with similar demographic structures and dietary patterns to Finland,” the researchers conclude.