We all know that a balanced diet is good approach to health and wellbeing. And thanks to a recent paper that appeared in Scientific Reports, we now know that adding fish to your meals can improve the quality of your sleep. Keep reading to learn what this seafood has to do with sleep.

The study observed 541 Chinese children, and tracked their eating habits, sleep patterns and IQ scores. What they found is that the more fish children ate, the better they slept. Researchers believe this improvement is due to the omega-3 fatty acids present in fish.

Frequent and regular fish consumption improved the quality of their sleep and they presented with less sleep disturbances. Researchers also found that the children not only slept better but they also had higher verbal, performance and full scale IQ scores.

You might be thinking that these children at a lot of fish, but the study found that even eating fish at least once per week made a big impact on sleep quality and IQ scores.

You might be wondering if this study is relevant to you and me. After all, this study observed children, not adults.

Adrian Raine, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the paper’s authors says that “it’s quite reasonable to imagine that these findings can also apply to adults.”

That’s because there have been separate studies indicating that omega-3 fatty acids can positively influence the psychological functioning of adults, too.

So, if you’d like to sleep better, consider adding fish to your diet – even just once per week. Over time, the omega-3 fatty acids can help you sleep better and think better, too.