Health Notes: What to eat in the evening so you’re on peak form the next day

This week, we’re delighted to welcome guest columnist Lucinda Miller, family naturopath, founder of NatureDoc and author of Brain Brilliance, as well as our go to expert on nutrition and wellbeing.

We’ve all been there, waking up foggy and wishing we could spend the day snuggled up in bed. The culprit is – obviously – the news, the weather or just the general relentlessness of life. But the real reason may be what you ate at last night's supper.

What you eat in the evening sets the stage for your sleep, and your sleep sets the stage for everything the next day. This includes your mood, your memory and your ability to string a coherent thought together before 10am.

How food affects deep sleep

We all want more of the deep and restorative type of sleep, which is the kind where your brain quietly files away memories and your body gets on with repairing itself. And it turns out, what you eat during the evening has a direct influence on how much slow wave sleep you get.

Research finds that a higher fibre intake in the evening predicts significantly more of this beneficial slow wave sleep, while consuming more saturated fat during the evening predicted less of it. This means that more sugar or refined carbohydrate eaten during the evening is linked to more wake-ups in the night, leaving you feeling unrested.

Scientists describe the "second meal cognitive effect" - the glycaemic response (effect on your blood sugar) to your evening meal, which can continue through the night and still influence your cognitive performance the following morning, even after sleeping and eating breakfast.

Where to start

The good news is that none of this requires anything complicated. Building your evening plate around fibre-rich vegetables, wholegrains and lean protein is ideal. Salmon, eggs, chicken, turkey, beans and pulses are all wonderful here, as they are satisfying, sleep-supportive and delicious.

Two fruits that have proper clinical evidence behind them are worth a special mention. Firstly, kiwi fruit: a well cited study found that eating two kiwis an hour before bed every night for four weeks helped the participants fall asleep over a third faster than usual and increased total sleep time by more than 13%. Kiwi contains both melatonin (the sleep-inducing hormone) and serotonin (the so called ‘feel good’ hormone, which is also a building block for melatonin): quite a feat for a hairy little fruit.

Eating cherries or drinking cherry juice is another lovely option. A systematic review of six clinical trials found that five of the six reported significant sleep improvements, with one study showing that a week of cherry juice consumption raised melatonin levels measurably and improved both sleep time and efficiency.

If you are not a fan of kiwi or cherries, then it is at least worth reducing your saturated fat, added sugar and ultra-processed foods at night. This is not meant as a hard and fast rule to feel guilty about, but simply because the evidence shows that these sleep thieves rob you of your deepest slumber. Which shows up the next morning in ways that no amount of coffee can entirely fix.

Brain Brilliance by Lucinda Miller (Quadrille)/£24 – buy here