Eating right, sleeping better: This is what the ideal dinner looks like.

We are sleeping worse and worse - what is the reason for it?

We spend about a third of our lives sleeping. Our organism needs this valuable time to physically recover and to organize and store information and impressions of the day - metabolism, hormone and immune system also need regular sleep to function smoothly. However, for most Germans, their sleep is anything but restful. Far too often, they can't fall asleep in the evening or wake up several times during the night. Numerous factors affect our sleep quality: stress, the wrong sleep environment (noise, light, temperature), racing thoughts, many hours in front of the screen, too little movement during the day...

One aspect that many do not initially associate with sleep is our Nutrition - what we consume daily in terms of macronutrients and micronutrients as well as the composition of our evening meal can directly affect our sleep quality. Poor sleep and its consequences during the day also influence our eating behavior: people who sleep poorly tend to have a less healthy diet, high in calories, low in micronutrients, rich in simple carbohydrates, and saturated fats.

A healthy, balanced diet ensures good quality sleep.

The Mediterranean diet comes closest to the recommendations for a healthy, restful sleep and has been shown in studies to improve sleep quality. On the one hand, this is due to the micronutrient-rich food components themselves, and on the other hand, due to the resulting weight loss. Even older people, who often suffer from sleep disorders, have been shown to benefit from switching to a Mediterranean diet. The central characteristics of the traditional Mediterranean diet are little to no highly processed industrial products, sweets, ready meals, and fast food, but plenty of olive oil, fish, lots of fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, and legumes, providing a broad base of important nutrients. Micronutrients deliver.

Melatonin and Micronutrients: How to promote the production of the sleep hormone

A good supply of Micronutrients (Vitamins, minerals, and trace elements) are important for countless functions of the human body. This also applies to sleep: Studies have shown that people with an unbalanced micronutrient balance are more likely to suffer from difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep than well-nourished individuals.

The messenger substance Melatonin is crucially involved in regulating our day-night rhythm. Our organism produces melatonin from serotonin through intermediate steps and requires, among other things, micronutrients for this. Tryptophan, Vitamin B6, Zinc and MagnesiumMelatonin is increasingly released in darkness and causes the onset of tiredness - before artificial light sources existed, this occurred at sunset. Tryptophan is found in milk, fish, eggs, beans, peanuts, cheese, green leafy vegetables, and pumpkin seeds - the warm milk as a bedtime drink can actually be helpful for falling asleep. Good sources of vitamin B6 are meat, fatty fish, whole grain products, potatoes, and green vegetables. You can get magnesium from bananas, berries, and dairy products such as buttermilk. Foods high in zinc content are also dairy products, eggs, and whole grain products.

Eating right, sleeping better: This is what the ideal dinner looks like.

What is best to consume in the evening to promote a restful night? We summarize which energy sources (macronutrients) are well suited - and pay attention to the choice of beverages.

• Carbohydrates? Complex carbohydrates such as whole grain bread, whole grain pasta, pseudo cereals (quinoa, buckwheat, millet) or potatoes, as well as nuts, increase serotonin production (precursor of the sleep hormone melatonin) and reduce the stress hormone cortisol - mood relaxes, which promotes falling asleep. Therefore: The dietary recommendations of low-carb or ketogenic diet may sometimes help shed a few pounds, but they do not have a beneficial effect if you have sleep problems.

• Fat? Saturated fats, in particular, can bother us well into the night. Fatty dishes such as meat, sausage, or salmon can stay in the stomach for up to five hours, while very fatty meals like goose, roast pork, or sardines can take up to eight hours. A peaceful, restful sleep is hardly possible in such cases. However, there is nothing wrong with having a handful of nuts, olive oil in dressing, or an avocado toast. By the way: younger people can eat fatty foods in the evening without affecting their sleep, while older people may find it more challenging.

• Protein? Protein from dairy products (milk, yogurt) or plants (tofu, nuts) seems to have a sleep-promoting effect, whether as part of dinner or as a snack shortly before bedtime.

• Drinks? Coffee, green and black tea contain caffeine or theine and should preferably not be consumed by sensitive individuals from early afternoon onwards (the half-life of caffeine is up to 5 hours in adults). Caffeine not only leads to later falling asleep, but also shortens the duration of sleep and worsens sleep quality. In contrast, tart cherry juice seems to have a sleep-promoting effect by increasing the availability of tryptophan and thus raising melatonin levels - and is also rich in antioxidants.

Does alcohol make you tired... or awake?

Many people are familiar with and "use" the tiring effect of beer and wine - at first. While alcohol initially brings relaxation and makes falling asleep easier, staying asleep becomes more difficult, especially the REM sleep phases are shortened. As a result, individuals often wake up more frequently in the second half of the night or struggle to return to sleep. However, REM sleep phases appear to be particularly important for stress reduction and for storing newly learned information. Therefore, you should not indulge in more than a small glass in the evening, and ideally not daily.

Every person eats a little differently - even in the evening.

When investigating the influence of dinner on sleep quality, many different factors besides food selection play a role: cultural aspects, habits, and also age.

The individual and cultural dietary habits and deviating from it are influencing factors on a good night's sleep: In countries such as Southern Europe, it is typical to eat late and heavily at night, which does not necessarily have to have an impact on the quality of sleep. However, if you usually follow a different daily routine and then deviate significantly from it, for example during holidays, increased sleep disturbances can also be the result. Raw food in the evening Not everyone tolerates salads - for many, steamed or boiled vegetables are the better choice for dinner.

Changing your diet... and what else? This is part of good sleep hygiene.