7 science-backed strategies for better sleep – rooted in nutrition, senses & physiology

In our overstimulated world, the simple act of falling asleep – and staying asleep – has become surprisingly difficult. Screens, stress, artificial lighting, and erratic routines all chip away at one of our most fundamental biological needs.

But emerging sleep science suggests that effective solutions aren’t always high-tech or pharmaceutical. Instead, they’re often deeply sensory and behavioural – linked to how we touch, smell, hear, and prepare for sleep.

Keep reading to discover seven proven strategies that support your body’s natural ability to rest – through the subtle power of environment, chemistry and rituals.

1. Scent and the limbic system: How smell can trigger sleep

The olfactory system is directly connected to the limbic system, the part of the brain that governs emotion, memory, and arousal. When certain scents – such as lavender, bergamot, cedarwood, or chamomile – are inhaled, they can modulate brain activity by influencing neurotransmitters like GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), which is known to induce calm and reduce anxiety.

Research in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine has shown that aromatherapy can improve sleep quality, reduce heart rate, and enhance parasympathetic nervous system activity – your body’s natural “rest and digest” state.

Try this:
Diffuse calming essential oils an hour before bed, or lightly spray a pillow mist onto your sheets. Consistent exposure can train your brain to associate that scent with winding down.

2. The psychology of rituals: How repetition trains the brain

Sleep is a neurobehavioural process, meaning that psychological cues strongly influence biological rhythms. Engaging in a pre-sleep routine sends predictable signals to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), your body’s master clock, reinforcing circadian rhythm and helping regulate sleep hormones like cortisol and melatonin.

These rituals don’t need to be complex. The key is consistency. Activities like journaling, brushing teeth, dimming lights, or stretching at the same time every evening anchor the brain in predictability, which reduces stress and shortens sleep latency (the time it takes to fall asleep).

Try This:
Choose a simple, 15–30 minute wind-down routine and repeat it nightly. The stability of these habits helps recondition the brain for sleep readiness, especially after high-stress days.

3. Sleep and hormones: Why most sleep supplements fail

Falling asleep isn’t just about quieting the mind; it’s about shifting the body out of a state of hyperarousal. Elevated evening cortisol – caused by stress, overstimulation, or irregular routines – delay melatonin, disrupt deep sleep, and lead to frequent wake-ups.

Many people turn to melatonin supplements or sedating sleep aids for relief. While these can help short-term, such as during jet lag, they often miss the core issue. Melatonin doesn’t induce sleep; it signals nightfall. When taken in high doses or at the wrong time, it can disrupt natural production, desensitize receptors, and misalign your circadian rhythm.

Sedative medications artificially induce sleep and override the body’s natural rhythm. With regular use, they can suppress REM and deep sleep – the stages most essential for mental and physical restoration. The real solution lies not in forceful sedation or external melatonin, but in calming the nervous system, lowering cortisol, and supporting the body’s natural ability to transition naturally into rest.

Try This:
Look for non-hormonal formulas that address the root cause of poor sleep – stress and elevated cortisol. One good example of this new generation of stress-focused sleep support is AVEA’s Sereniser supplement. The formula was developed with longevity experts and combines several clinically studied ingredients:

Safr’Inside™ (saffron extract) supports serotonin activity and emotional balance in the evening.
Holixer® (Holy Basil) helps lower cortisol, the stress hormone that often delays sleep.
Magnesium and L-Theanine calm the nervous system by promoting GABA activity and alpha brain waves.

Together, they help ease the body into rest – by reducing stress and supporting natural rhythms, not overriding them.

4. Sound and sleep architecture: The rhythm of rest

While noise pollution can be a major disruptor, controlled sound can actually aid sleep. Low-tempo music and ambient soundscapes have been shown to increase slow-wave activity in the brain, which is crucial for memory consolidation and body restoration.

Research from the Cochrane database of systematic reviews and various sleep labs has found that listening to music at a tempo of 60 beats per minute or slower helps entrain brain waves into a relaxed state, facilitating theta and delta brainwave activity – essential for deep, restorative sleep.

Try This:

Establish a short playlist of calming, instrumental music or natural sound loops (rain, ocean, forest) and play it consistently before or during sleep. Avoid lyrics or sudden shifts in volume. By making this a habit, you condition your nervous system to associate these sounds with rest, helping your body ease more naturally into sleep.

5. Touch and temperature: The underestimated role of bedding

Could your bedding be silently sabotaging your sleep? One of the brain’s key sleep signals is a slight drop in core body temperature, typically by 1 to 2 °C, which occurs as blood vessels dilate (vasodilation) to release heat through the skin, particularly in the hands, feet, and face. This thermoregulatory mechanism is essential for initiating and sustaining non-REM and slow-wave (deep) sleep.

When the skin stays too warm, it can inhibit this cooling process, delaying sleep onset and fragmenting rest. This is where bedding materials make a surprising impact: they can either trap heat and humidity – or help release it.

A study published in the Journal of Sleep Research found that bedding materials that support cooling and moisture control (such as cotton and linen) improve sleep efficiency slow-wave sleep duration, especially in warmer environments. Another study confirmed that fabric structure, moisture wicking, and airflow all contribute to perceived comfort and objective sleep quality.

Try This:
Choose bedding that supports breathability and helps your skin stay cool throughout the night. Dalfilo’s 100% cotton percale sheets are thoughtfully crafted in Italy, Bergamo, with this in mind – thanks to their 210 TC dense weave, they promote airflow and moisture regulation to assist the body’s natural temperature drop, while offering a soft, grounding tactile feel.

Natural fibres like percale cotton aid thermoregulation by:

Encouraging air circulation between the skin and bedding – the tightly woven percale remains breathable and gentle on the skin
Absorbing moisture (such as perspiration) without feeling damp
Maintaining a stable microclimate at the skin’s surface through its natural thermoregulator properties

This supports the body’s transition into deeper, more restorative sleep.

6. Nutrition and neurochemistry: These foods improve sleep quality

What you eat in the hours before bedtime can quietly influence how well you sleep. Nutrients like tryptophan, magnesium, and vitamin B6 play key roles in the production of serotonin and melatonin – two neurotransmitters essential for sleep regulation. According to a review by Peuhkuri et al., diets rich in these compounds may promote longer and more stable sleep.

Magnesium, for example, supports the parasympathetic nervous system and enhances GABA activity – helping the brain and body relax. Complex carbohydrates can increase tryptophan availability in the brain, supporting natural melatonin synthesis.

On the other hand, caffeine, alcohol, and heavy or high-fat meals too close to bedtime may disrupt sleep architecture and lead to lighter, more fragmented rest.

Try This:
Support your sleep from within: Focus on light, nutrient-rich evening meals that include magnesium (like leafy greens, seeds), healthy carbs (like whole grains), and calming herbal teas. Your brain needs the right building blocks to sleep well – nutrition is part of the ritual.

7. Thermal regulation: A cool body sleeps better

We’ve already touched on the body’s natural temperature drop before sleep and how the right bedding can support it. But that’s only part of the picture. You can also help regulate your core temperature externally by creating a cooler sleep environment.

Lowering your room temperature to around 16–19 °C (60–67 °F) reinforces the body’s natural signals that it’s time to rest. Research indicates that a cooler environment supports heat release through the skin, helping the body unwind and transition into sleep more easily.

Studies have found that mild cooling can accelerate sleep onset, improve overall sleep efficiency, and help maintain a more stable sleep cycle throughout the night.

Try This:
Turn down the thermostat slightly in the evening, use breathable sleepwear, and avoid heavy blankets. Pair this with breathable sheets (such as linen or cotton percale) to help your body maintain a stable, cool temperature throughout the night.

Final thoughts: Better sleep starts with intention

Restorative sleep begins long before your head touches the pillow. It’s shaped by how you engage your senses, establish evening rituals, and support your body’s natural rhythms.

The soothing scent of lavender, a calming pre-sleep routine, and the gentle feel of temperature-regulating sheets – like those crafted by Dalfilo – can all help ease the transition from wakefulness to rest. And when needed, gentle, hormone-free support such as AVEA’s Sereniser can help quiet the mind and lower stress from within.

By aligning your environment and physiology, you create the conditions where rest can return – organically, reliably, night after night.

References

Campbell, S. S., & Broughton, R. J. (1994). Rapid decline in body temperature before sleep: fluffing the physiological pillow?. Chronobiology international, 11(2), 126–131. https://doi.org/10.3109/07420529409055899

Kräuchi, K., Cajochen, C., Werth, E., & Wirz-Justice, A. (2000). Functional link between distal vasodilation and sleep-onset latency?. American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology, 278(3), R741–R748. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.2000.278.3.R741

Raymann, R. J., Swaab, D. F., & Van Someren, E. J. (2007). Skin temperature and sleep-onset latency: changes with age and insomnia. Physiology & behavior, 90(2-3), 257–266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2006.09.008

Peuhkuri, K., Sihvola, N., & Korpela, R. (2012). Diet promotes sleep duration and quality. Nutrition research (New York, N.Y.), 32(5), 309–319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nutres.2012.03.009

Lillehei, A. S., & Halcon, L. L. (2014). A systematic review of the effect of inhaled essential oils on sleep. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 20(6), 441–451. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2013.0311

Jespersen, K. V., Koenig, J., Jennum, P., & Vuust, P. (2015). Music for insomnia in adults. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 2015(8), CD010459. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010459.pub2

Chanda, Tanima & Ahirwar, Meenakshi & Behera, Bijoya. (2020). Appraisal of Bed Linen Performance with Respect to Sleep Quality. Textile & Leather Review. 3. 19-29. DOI:10.31881/TLR.2020.01

Li, X., Halaki, M., & Chow, C. M. (2024). How do sleepwear and bedding fibre types affect sleep quality: A systematic review. Journal of sleep research, 33(6), e14217. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14217

Varinthra, P., Anwar, S. N. M. N., Shih, S. C., & Liu, I. Y. (2024). The role of the GABAergic system on insomnia. Tzu chi medical journal, 36(2), 103–109. https://doi.org/10.4103/tcmj.tcmj_243_23