--- title: Eating Fish May Help You Sleep Better, Study Says description: Eating fish may help you sleep better and improve brain function, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania. canonical: https://time.com/5077404/fish-omega-3-sleep/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-22T17:18:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:40:08.200Z article:section: Health og:title: This Food May Help You Sleep Better og:description: It may also improve brain function og:url: https://time.com/5077404/fish-omega-3-sleep/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbaede7fc22c50036/6988f655929fadf6ccbef00f/better-sleep.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5100 og:image:height: 2869 og:image:alt: Rear view of woman sleeping in bed og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Food May Help You Sleep Better twitter:description: It may also improve brain function twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbaede7fc22c50036/6988f655929fadf6ccbef00f/better-sleep.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Food May Help You Sleep Better > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 22, 2017 5:18 PM UTC  Rear view of woman sleeping in bed Rear view of woman sleeping in bed Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 22, 2017 5:18 PM UTC Forget warm milk. A new study from the University of Pennsylvania says that fish may be the key to a good night’s sleep. The paper, [published Thursday in _Scientific Reports_](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17520-w), found an association between regular fish consumption and high sleep quality among Chinese schoolchildren, likely thanks to the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish. Largely [as a result of that improved sleep](http://time.com/4672988/the-sleep-cure-fountain-of-youth/), the researchers found, the children also scored higher on IQ tests. “There’s a relationship between fish consumption and higher cognitive functioning. What what we document here is that it’s the better sleep that explains the relationship,” says Adrian Raine, one of the paper’s authors and a professor of criminology, psychiatry and psychology at Penn. “From A to B to C: From fish consumption to better sleep to higher cognitive functioning.” The researchers asked 541 schoolchildren in China between ages 9 and 11 to describe their eating habits, including how often they ate fish. Their parents, meanwhile, were asked to answer questions about the kids’ sleep patterns. Researchers then administered IQ tests when the children turned 12. They found links between eating fish regularly — the more, the better — and both improved sleep and higher IQ scores. But, Raine explains, it appears that many of the cognitive benefits can be traced back to bedtime. “The brain is so much more plastic early on in child development,” he says. “We might anticipate that fish consumption earlier in life may be particularly beneficial for a child’s sleep and cognitive functioning.” While the study focused on kids, Raine says “it’s quite reasonable to imagine that these findings can also apply to adults,” citing [studies that have shown](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/792707) that omega-3 fatty acids can alter psychological functioning in adults. Eating fish just a few times a month may improve your brain functioning, Raine says. (Fish and omega-3s have also [been shown to be good for your heart](http://time.com/4619488/omega-3-fats-heart-health/).) “The important thing is really having a balanced diet. It needn’t be a lot,” Raine says. “Even if parents could just get fish on the table once a week, that could be enough to make a bit of a difference over at school and in long-term performance, and especially sleep.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5077404/fish-omega-3-sleep/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5077404/fish-omega-3-sleep/"},"headline":"This Food May Help You Sleep Better","datePublished":"2017-12-22T17:18:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:40:08.200Z","description":"Your brain may see a boost, too","url":"https://time.com/5077404/fish-omega-3-sleep/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","Sleep","Research","omega-3","fish","onetime","healthytime","Evergreen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbaede7fc22c50036/6988f655929fadf6ccbef00f/better-sleep.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbaede7fc22c50036/6988f655929fadf6ccbef00f/better-sleep.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rear view of woman sleeping in bed","caption":"Rear view of woman sleeping in bed","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5077404/fish-omega-3-sleep/","name":"This Food May Help You Sleep Better"}}]}] ```