Many 'sleep foods' are overhyped. Here's what experts say to eat at night instead

If you find yourself tossing and turning or struggling to fall asleep because of pesky reflux, what you eat in the evening may be playing a role. “Science shows food has a moderate impact on sleep,” says Carleara Weiss, a registered nurse, clinician scientist in behavioral sleep medicine and sleep science adviser at Aeroflow Sleep. While no one food will magically correct your sleep troubles, some provide amino acids like tryptophan or minerals like magnesium and potassium that may help produce melatonin or support relaxation.

But before you start planning turkey dinners every night, gastroenterologist Dr. Sameer Berry cautions: “Most of these foods are overhyped. When I rank the popular claims by the quality of evidence behind them, the order runs close to the opposite of their popularity.”

So what actually does help? As a registered dietitian, I had some ideas, but since I don’t specialize in sleep, I went to the experts. After talking with Berry, Weiss and fellow dietitian Avery Zenker, it became clear that, as with most things, your overall diet and eating habits matter most, though a few foods may help move the needle. Here’s how to eat for better sleep, starting with dinner.

What to eat at dinner

Berry says he’d focus on dinner first, and the timing is just as important as the ingredients. Here’s what to prioritize:

Build your plate around fiber. “Fiber intake can lead to deeper sleep and fewer sleep interruptions,” Berry says. He recommends vegetables, legumes, whole grains and fruit. An easy way to get more is swapping white-flour products for whole-grain or legume-based versions, like chickpea pasta.
Add healthy carbs and lean protein. Berry says both are important parts of a sleep-friendly dinner.
Consider potatoes (including sweet potatoes). They’re rich in potassium, a mineral that may help with muscle relaxation and support healthy blood pressure levels.
Try salmon. It contains tryptophan and vitamin B6, nutrients the brain uses to help build melatonin, and it’s one of the best sources of omega-3s DHA and EPA, which play a role in serotonin production.
Keep meal timing consistent. Already eating a balanced dinner? Weiss recommends taking a look at your whole day. “Keeping meal timing consistent from breakfast to dinner can anchor our circadian rhythms and support metabolism and sleep,” she explains.

A note on tryptophan: Foods like turkey are known for their tryptophan content, but Berry cautions against overstating their effectiveness. “Turkey has the least support of any claim I hear. It contains about the same tryptophan as chicken, and tryptophan from a protein meal competes with other amino acids for transport into the brain, so very little arrives,” he says. This doesn’t mean there’s no benefit to eating these foods; just temper your expectations.

If you want a bedtime snack

If you need a snack between dinner and bedtime, Berry recommends keeping it small and simple. As a dietitian, I’d add that the focus should be on fiber and protein, which help keep your blood sugar steady and your stomach from rumbling all night. “Oatmeal with milk, yogurt with fruit or whole-grain toast with nut butter all fit,” Berry says.

Timing also matters. “Two to three hours for most people. Eating within this window significantly increases nighttime waking and increases the time it takes to fall asleep,” Berry says.

Again, there’s no magical food, but some may be better options than others. Here are the ones that came up most often in our expert interviews and in the current research:

Kiwifruit: In small studies, eating two kiwis an hour before bed for four weeks was linked to better sleep, including in a 2023 study of elite athletes. Researchers think kiwi’s melatonin, serotonin, antioxidants and folate may play a role, though research is limited and mixed. Berry recommends this small fruit for a different reason: “Two green kiwis a day may improve constipation and abdominal comfort.”
Bananas: Weiss includes bananas among her recommendations. They provide potassium and also contain tryptophan and magnesium.
Milk: Ever heard of drinking warm milk before bed? The warmth is mostly comforting, but milk also contains protein, which may help keep blood sugar steady overnight, and tryptophan. More high-quality studies are needed, but a 2025 review of randomized controlled trials found that milk and dairy consumption may improve self-reported sleep quality.
Tart cherries: Tart cherries have long been popular with athletes for exercise recovery and are now gaining attention for their potential to support sleep. Zenker points to a 2025 review suggesting that tart cherry juice may reduce insomnia severity and nighttime waking while increasing total sleep time and sleep efficiency. Berry also sees promise, calling it “a reasonable experiment for someone without reflux or IBS,” but cautions that the studies are small and several are industry-funded. He adds that half a cup of juice is a meaningful dose of sugar.
Nuts and seeds: Zenker lists pumpkin seeds among tryptophan-rich foods, and they’re also a source of magnesium. Almonds and pistachios are worth considering for their magnesium, healthy fats and fiber. More research is needed, but a 2026 randomized controlled trial found that adults with poor sleep who ate about 2 ounces of raw almonds daily for five months reported better sleep quality than those who ate a calorie-matched snack. However, the study was funded by the Almond Board of California, so take the results with a grain of salt.

Dietitian tip: Buy almonds, pumpkin seeds and unsweetened dried tart cherries in bulk to make your own bedtime trail mix. For more volume, add some plain popcorn. Keep portions to about a small handful.

What about magnesium supplements?

Magnesium is an essential mineral that’s gaining momentum as a sleep aid because of its role in helping to quiet the mind and relax the body before bedtime. More research is needed, but a small pilot trial found that magnesium supplements improved sleep quality. Magnesium glycinate in particular may help with sleep, partly because of glycine, an amino acid with its own calming properties. Though again, research confirming its effectiveness and dose is thin.

Magnesium supplements are generally safe at recommended doses, but talk with your doctor or a registered dietitian before adding a new supplement to your routine.

How reflux and GLP-1 drugs change the recommendations

What you eat and when you eat before bed matter even more if you have reflux or slow stomach emptying.

“Anyone with slow stomach emptying needs a longer window. That includes gastroparesis, often from diabetes, and people on GLP-1 medications, which delay gastric emptying,” Berry says. “For them, a meal that would normally clear in two to three hours may still be sitting in the stomach at bedtime, and reflux and nausea follow.”

For reflux, Berry says the evidence is clear that you should wait two to three hours after eating before lying down, and he tells his reflux patients to wait three hours. He points to a randomized trial of 30 reflux patients in which a dinner two hours before bed caused more acid exposure while lying down than the same dinner six hours before bed.

If a late meal is unavoidable, Berry says to keep it small and low in fat, because fat slows stomach emptying.

Elevating the head of your bed may also help, as may other strategies such as alginate-based products, though talk with your gastroenterologist before trying them.

Your sleep setup matters too

Need some help getting quality shut-eye? Make sure your bedroom is set up for success. At Yahoo, we’ve tested more than 100 sleep products, from blackout curtains and cooling sheets to mattresses for side sleepers and people with back pain.

Meet our experts

Sameer Berry, MD, gastroenterologist, chief medical officer at Oshi Health

Our health content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as professional medical advice. Consult a medical professional on questions about your health.