Nutritionist recommends cutting caffeine 10 hours before bed to improve sleep

A nutritionist’s advice for better sleep begins well before bedtime: stop drinking caffeine about 10 hours before going to bed. For someone who sleeps at 11 p.m., Erin Palinski-Wade says that means cutting off caffeine around 1 p.m.

“

Food can directly affect your ability to get quality sleep each night.

Palinski-Wade, a registered dietitian, certified diabetes-care specialist and author of “The Sleepdemic Solution,” said food can directly affect the ability to get quality sleep each night. In a video for “Healthy Mom, Happy Family,” she emphasized that the results can depend on how foods are combined.

She identified stable blood sugar as a central factor. Keeping glucose levels steady during the day may help prevent afternoon energy crashes and support deeper rest at night. Waking during the night and struggling to fall asleep again, she said, may sometimes be linked to glucose fluctuations rather than insomnia alone.

“

The main way to improve overall rest.

To reduce those fluctuations, she recommended combining lean proteins, slow-digesting carbohydrates and healthy fats in main meals and snacks. Her preferred sleep-related option was tart cherries or 100% natural tart cherry juice, which she said contain high levels of naturally occurring melatonin and compounds that help prolong the hormone’s presence in the body. For people with insomnia, she recommended 118 to 177 milliliters of juice or about one-quarter cup of dried tart cherries. She called it “a really excellent tool for improving sleep.”

“

A really excellent tool for improving sleep.