Choosing to focus my thesis on insomnia ended up being incredibly enriching for my dietetic practice and completely changed how I think about health. It opened my eyes to an area of our well-being that I’d barely considered before.
I genuinely thought I knew it all. I had studied medical sciences, sports sciences, and nutrition, and assumed those were all the pieces of the puzzle, and I’d never thought much about sleep.
We talk constantly about food. We’re (finally) more open about mental health. But sleep – the thing that holds both together – somehow still feels optional. Something to sacrifice when life gets busy.
Sleep health is understated, yet it spills into everything.
As a dietitian specialised in eating disorder recovery, I see this pattern all the time in clinic. Clients are doing “everything right”: eating balanced meals, moving their bodies, and trying to take care of themselves… yet they feel exhausted and stuck in old patterns. When I ask about sleep, and hear “Oh, that’s not great”, that’s when I know it might be the missing piece for them.
Sleep doesn’t just support physical health – it supports your relationship with food, with your body, and with yourself. It affects your mood, your energy, and even how you cope with daily challenges. It shapes how you relate to food and your body. And what continues to amaze me though is how even small improvements in sleep can shift everything.
So, What Does “Good Sleep” Actually Look Like?
Good sleep isn’t just about hitting eight hours (though that matters a lot). It’s about quality, continuity, consistency, and how you actually feel during the day. It’s falling asleep without an hour-long fight, staying asleep most nights, and waking up feeling relatively restored. Those are signs that you’re having good sleep.
Good sleep is also personal. Some people feel great on seven hours, others need nine. It’s about consistency and restoration, not perfection (which usually backfires).
Why Sleep Affects Everything
Sleep isn’t a passive state – it’s an incredibly active, restorative process. Your brain consolidates memories, your body repairs tissue, and your hormones recalibrate.
When sleep is compromised, everything else follows:
- Food and cravings: Poor sleep increases hunger hormones and makes intuitive eating nearly impossible. When clients say they “have no willpower,” I ask about sleep. It’s not willpower – it’s biology.
- Mood: Ever notice how everything feels harder after a bad night? Sleep loss lowers your stress threshold, so small annoyances feel like major crises.
- Energy: Even mild sleep disruption leaves you mentally foggy and physically drained.
- Performance: Even one night of poor sleep affects performance. You might feel like you’re functioning normally, whether at work, in sports, or day-to-day, but objectively, reaction time, focus, and decision-making are reduced. In sport, this also increases injury risk and limits your ability to push to your best.
- Hormones: Sleep affects insulin, cortisol, and overall metabolic balance, shaping how you feel in your body day to day.
- Body composition: Poor sleep disrupts muscle recovery and growth hormone production, raises cortisol (which promotes fat storage, especially around the midsection), and increases muscle breakdown. If you’re training but not seeing results, sleep might be the missing piece.
(And the list goes on.)
The Good News
We tend to treat sleep like something we should just “figure out.” When it’s hard, we blame ourselves – and even wear exhaustion like a badge of honour. But struggling with sleep doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. It usually reflects stress, lifestyle demands, or habits built up over time. Small, compassionate changes can make a real difference.
Below are some of the most practical, evidence-based strategies for improving sleep health. These aren’t rules – they’re levers. You don’t need to do all of them. Even one or two small shifts can create a meaningful change.
And when sleep improves, everything else often softens: the food noise, the anxiety, the exhaustion – sometimes without changing anything else.
Sleep Strategies That Actually Work
1. Time your last meal right
Going to bed hungry makes it harder to fall asleep. Eating a very large meal right before bed can also disrupt sleep.
Aim for a satisfying, balanced meal 3–4 hours before bedtime. Include complex carbohydrates (quinoa, sweet potato, whole-grain toast) alongside protein and fat. Carbohydrates support tryptophan availability, which converts to melatonin – your sleep hormone – helping support sleep onset and quality.
2. Manage blue light exposure
We’ve never been exposed to this much artificial light, this late and this often.
Light is one of the strongest regulators of our circadian rhythm. In the evening, bright blue light (hello, phone screens) delays melatonin release and makes it much harder to feel sleepy – especially when scrolling or watching TV right before bed. If you can, avoid all screens in the 1 hour before you go to bed.
If you can’t avoid screens entirely, reduce their impact: lower screen brightness, use night mode, or wear blue-light-filtering glasses. I personally recommend Ra Optics – they’re backed by solid research and designed specifically for sleep health, not just eye comfort.
3. Create a bedtime routine (that actually fits your life)
A bedtime routine isn’t about perfection or rigid timing. It’s about giving your nervous system predictable cues that the day is winding down. We’re creatures of habit, and your body needs to know it’s time to sleep. In a world that’s constantly awake, it’s up to you to create an environment that signals rest.
Simple but very impactful changes include:
- Dim the lights (about 1 hour before bed, aim for a low-light environment).
- Get comfortable: change into comfortable clothes, use a lavender pillow spray…
- Calm your body: gentle stretching, or a few slow breaths.
- Calm your mind: read a few pages or do something that relaxes you.
Many people struggle with sleep not because they aren’t tired, but because their mind won’t switch off. If thoughts race, try a brain dump: writing everything down – make a list of your worries or what is keeping you awake right now – so you know it’s on paper and you can deal with it tomorrow.
You might also try deep breathing and gently reminding yourself: I don’t need to solve this right now.
If after ~30 minutes of going to bed, you’re still awake, get out of bed and sit in another room. Reading a few pages of a book can help. The point is to avoid your mind associating being in bed with wakefulness. Do not, in those situations, turn to your phone or a snack, as those will signal to your body that it’s time to be awake. After 10–20 minutes, you might try returning to bed.
The paradox is that sleep comes more easily when you stop trying to force it.
- Optimise your environment
Your bedroom should support rest. Key factors include:
• A cool temperature (around 18–20°C / 65–68°F), and/or taking a hot shower before bed to help lower your body temperature
• Darkness (blackout curtains or an eye mask)
• Quiet (or white noise)
• A comfortable mattress and pillow
These sound basic, but they’re quite impactful and often overlooked.
- Consistency matters more than duration
Even 10–15 minutes of a routine, done regularly, helps signal that it’s time to rest. Consistency reinforces the message to your body.
If possible, aim to go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time each day – even on weekends. Perfect consistency isn’t always realistic with busy lives, but the more regular your timing, the more supported your sleep will be over time.
Bonus tips:
• Get morning daylight to anchor your circadian rhythm.
• Move your body during the day (but avoid intense workouts late at night).
• Stay hydrated, but limit fluids close to bedtime.
A Final Gentle Reminder
Better sleep isn’t built overnight (pun intended). And struggling with sleep doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong.
Pick one or two changes that feel doable. Give them time. Sleep isn’t something we force – it’s something we support, and you deserve that support.
If you still struggle with ongoing insomnia or sleep problems, especially if you’re already implementing these strategies, it may be time to reach out to a doctor for further support.