Functional Foods To Maximise Sleep Quality In Cyclist?

When it comes to recovery from hard training and competition, maximising the adaptations you get from training, and supporting a cyclist’s overall health, there are a few things more important than getting good quality sleep.

Poor quality and quantity of sleep can negatively influence a cyclist’s carbohydrate metabolism, appetite, energy intake, protein synthesis, immune system and feelings of fatigue, to name but a few. These can all have a devastating impact on an athlete’s health and performance, particularly when sleep disruption is sustained. 

Functional foods can play a role in helping support an athlete in getting good quality sleep and nutrition. In this week’s blog on Fuel The Ride Academy, we’ll summarise the key foods that may be of benefit when looking to optimise sleep as an athlete. 

Functional foods are foods that contain compounds that can be beneficial for health or performance. In the case of sleep, there are a number of food compounds that can be beneficial for helping support an athlete's sleep. These include…

Caffeine – It probably goes without saying that caffeine due to it’s stimulatory effects can delay the point at which an athlete falls off to sleep, potentially reducing the quantity of sleep that they can have. Whilst modest doses of caffeine can be beneficial, its use has to be carefully managed, particularly in the later part of the day or hours leading up to sleep. Caffeine can potentially be used in combination with naps to help enhance mood, alertness and cognitive performance; by consuming caffeine immediately before a 30-40-minute afternoon nap, the athlete can then counteract any sleepiness post-nap.

Creatine – Whilst not directly influencing sleep quality, as little as a single dose of creatine has been shown to help rescue some of the cognitive decline (tested in simple skill performance) that accompanies sleep deprivation.

Carbohydrates – Whilst there is undoubtedly more to understand, the intake of easily digestible carbohydrates in the few hours before sleep has been shown to help reduce sleep latency.

Protein – The amino acid Tryptophan found in many dietary protein sources such as milk, chicken, fish and eggs, has been shown to improve sleep. With many athletes already often consuming protein close to the bed in order to maximise the rebuilding of muscle proteins overnight, it is potentially an additional benefit to an already well-established nutrition intervention. That being said, protein before bed may need to be carefully managed to prevent a heavy meal from negatively impacting on sleep quality.

Tart Cherries – Contain high concentrations of melatonin, a key compound that plays roles in triggering sleep and enhancing sleep quality and duration and has been shown to be useful in improving sleep quality in athletes, as well as supporting an athlete’s recovery from exercise through its antioxidant properties.

Kiwi Fruit – A fruit rich in a range of beneficial compounds including vitamin C, E and K, Fibre and Beta Carotine, Kiwi Fruits contain a range of nutrients that can be benefical for sleep. A couple of recent studies hvae shown simply consuming 2x kiwi fruits in the 2 hours before bed can improve subjective sleep and recovery scores.  

Whilst ultimately good sleep habits are going to be key to helping an athlete get a good night’s sleep, many of the functional foods above, particularly carbohydrates, protein, kiwi fruit and cherry juice, are all key components of an athlete’s diet and may provide further benefits through their impact on sleep so will certainly be worth considering.

Coach Ben

Reference 

Doherty, R., Madigan, S., Warrington, G., & Ellis, J. G. (2024). Sleep and nutrition for athletes. The Nutrition Society, Scottish Section Conference 2024. The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 1–7. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0029665124007535