9 Nutrients You Need For Great Sleep + How To Get More Of 'Em

Shawn Stevenson, host of popular wellness podcast Model Health Show, maintains that he "could not have found my road back to health without first paving a way to better sleep." In his new book, Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success, Stevenson combines his years of research to reveal the most effective ways we can all optimize our shut-eye. In this excerpt, he explains how eating right can improve your sleep. You can also learn more about better sleep (and maximizing your energy!) in his new mindbodygreen video class.

When it comes to getting the nutrients you need to keep your body and sleep healthy, remember this: food first.

Of course, there are occasions to strategically add in some smart supplementation to help fill in the nutritional gaps and get things back in line from a lifetime of deficiency. But the reason food is so paramount to getting these nutrients is that your body has evolved to “recognize” the nutrients that it can extract from whole foods.

There’s no guarantee that your body is going to readily assimilate the vitamin C from a supplement just because the pill bottle says it’s in there. Your cells and healthy gut bacteria are more likely to play nicely with real food than any fancy supplement.

A deficiency in selenium could play a role in sleep abnormalities. It’s also critical for your immune system function and thyroid function.

Some research suggests1 that people with low blood levels of vitamin C have more sleep issues and are more prone to waking up during the night.

This is a critical nutrient because it’s the precursor to your body’s serotonin production. The neurotransmitter serotonin is a precursor to the hormone melatonin, which is important for the body’s internal clock to regulate your sleep wake cycles.

A study published in the journal Sleep found that potassium may be helpful for those who have trouble staying asleep. Bananas are often touted as the best source of potassium, but there are plenty of other natural sources.

Other research suggests2 that disturbances in REM sleep could be linked to a calcium deficiency.

According to the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, there is a strong correlation between vitamin D deficiency and excessive daytime sleepiness.

There are a few food sources of vitamin D, such as swordfish, salmon, tuna, mackerel, shiitake mushrooms, and oysters, but the optimal way to get your vitamin D levels up, as the research indicates, is through smart exposure to natural sunlight.

A study conducted by the University of Oxford found that omega-3s can help you get deeper, more restful sleep.

Melatonin (in relation to tryptophan, as mentioned above), is a hormone that regulates your sleep cycles and can be found in small amounts in some foods, while others could also help raise your body’s production of melatonin.

This essential vitamin helps to modulate your body’s stress response and relax your nervous system.

Some of the best sources of vitamin B6 are bananas, yogurt (sugar-free and organic, please!), cashews, peanut butter, almonds, avocados, fish, tomatoes, spinach, sweet potatoes, sea veggies, and eggs.

It should go without saying that these foods would ideally be organic and minimally processed. Of course, there are many other foods and nutrients that are important for human health. The great thing about eating real foods is that you’ll get a whole host of other nutrients that come along with the ones above—all in a delicious, bioavailable form.