A New Clinical Trial Suggests This Common Snack Might Help You Sleep Better

From womenshealthmag.com

By Korin Miller

Experts break down what to make of the latest study 

Key Points

• A new clinical trial suggests that eating almonds may help with sleep.
• People who ate about 50 almonds a day reported better sleep quality—but the study was funded by the Almond Board of California.
• Experts say there may be some nutritional health benefits to almonds and other nuts that may help with sleep, and that more research is needed.

Even though you’re well aware of the importance of getting enough sleep each night, sometimes it’s just not easy to fall asleep when you’d like. If it happens more often than not, it’s easy to find yourself in a panic spiral of worrying that you’ll never sleep well again.

Now, a new clinical trial published in Frontiers in Nutrition suggests that adding almonds to your daily diet might help you get better sleep. Keep in mind the study was funded by the Almond Board of California, but dietitians say almonds may have something in their nutritional makeup that makes this research worth looking into further.

And though almonds might be one more tool in your sleep-promoting toolbox, they’re unlikely to magically make all of your sleep woes disappear. If you’re seriously struggling with insomnia or other sleep problems, you should talk to a healthcare provider. But for those just looking to snack mindfully, here’s what to know about the latest link between almonds and sleep.

What did the study find?

For the clinical trial, researchers recruited 175 adults in India aged 21 to 55 with poor sleep quality (but excluded those with major sleep disorders like sleep apnoea, narcolepsy, chronic insomnia, and more). Participants were randomized to eat about 50 whole almonds a day (provided by the same Almond Board of California) or another calorie-matched snack for five months. The researchers took a range of measurements on the participants’ sleep quality, like brain-wave recordings and various biochemical markers, including blood tests, at the start of the study and after five months, and also collected participants’ self-reported data on sleep quality.

After crunching the data, researchers found that people in the almond group reported having fewer sleep disturbances and an easier time falling asleep than those in the non-almond group. Their blood tests also showed slightly higher levels of the sleep hormone melatonin than in the non-almond group. People in the almond group were also more likely to achieve a clinically significant improvement in their sleep scores.

“These findings suggest that almonds may enhance perceived sleep quality, with slight objective improvements among responders,” the researchers wrote in the study’s conclusion.

Why might almonds help you sleep better?

The study found that almonds mostly improved perceived sleep quality—meaning, the participants felt (and self-reported) better sleep, while objective sleep changes were more limited. Still, dietitians say there may be something to adding almonds to your sleep regimen.

“Almonds are a good source of magnesium, which has been found in many studies to promote restful sleep because of its impact on muscle relaxation, regulation of melatonin production, and nervous system regulation,” says Jessica Cording, RD, author of The Little Book of Game-Changers.

They also contain tryptophan, which the body uses to make serotonin and melatonin, says Keri Gans, RD, author of The Small Change Diet. “Researchers also observed higher melatonin levels in the almond group at the end of the study, but we can’t say the almonds caused that increase or that melatonin was responsible for the sleep improvements,” she points out.

Beyond outright sleep-boosting nutrition, almonds also deliver a satisfying combination of protein, healthy fat, and fibre, which supports stable blood sugar—which is itself an important aspect of good quality sleep, Cording says.

Could other nuts have the same impact?

It’s tough to say. “Because this study focused specifically on almonds and the evidence is still limited, we can’t assume that other nuts would have the same effect on sleep,” Gans says.

Still, Cording notes that other nuts can support stable blood sugar through protein, fat, and fibre, and some specific nuts offer nutrients similar to almonds. “Cashews also contain magnesium, walnuts contain omega-3 fatty acids and melatonin, and pistachios also provide some melatonin,” Cording says.

What’s the takeaway?

More research is definitely needed, but experts say there may be something here. “Almonds are a nutritious food that can easily fit into an overall healthy eating pattern,” Gans says. “Fit into” is the key part here—50 almonds offer a solid amount of protein, fat, and calories, so you don’t want to just tack that onto what you’re already eating.

If you’re hungry before bed, a nutrient-dense snack that’s easy to digest like almonds can be part of a healthy sleep routine, Cording says. “Also, what you eat throughout the day and your daytime habits are important too,” she says. “Just eating almonds before bed isn’t a replacement for sleep-supporting habits like practicing good sleep hygiene, having consistent sleep and wake-up times, limiting caffeine late in the day, being physically active, and managing stress.”

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a73512370/almonds-sleep-study/?itm_source=parsely-api