Pokemon Helps Science Crack The Code For Better Sleep

A new study analyzes people’s sleep habits in relation to their nutrition and finds that folks who eat more protein and fiber during the day end up sleeping longer at night.

• Here’s where Pokemon lends a hand. Researchers analyzed data from more than 48-hundred users of Pokemon Sleep, a sleep-tracking video game, and Asken, a nutrition app, to track their eating and sleeping habits for seven days.
• The team of researchers from the International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine in Japan found that people who ate foods high in protein, like eggs, fish and tofu, slept an average of 10 to 11 minutes longer than those who ate less protein.
• People who also ate more fiber, found in veggies, fruits and whole grains, also tended to fall asleep faster and spent less time awake if they woke up in the middle of the night.
• The study also finds that people who ate more fatty foods and had more sodium in their diets compared to potassium tended to sleep around six to 11 minutes less, on average. They also had a harder time going back to sleep if they woke in the middle of the night.

While the study does offer some insight into how our diets affect our sleep, study authors note that the research is based on what’s reported on the apps, so it may not be entirely accurate. But since there’s no harm in adding more protein and fiber to your plate, it’s worth a try to improve sleep.