Abstract: Sleep plays an important role in maintaining the physiological and mental health of all living organisms, and improving sleep disorders becomes a major issue related to human health. Among them, the functional factors regulating sleep are mainly divided into three categories: inhibitory neurotransmitters such as γ- Aminobutyric acid (GABA), melatonin (MT), taurine and glycine (Gly), excitatory neurotransmitters such as glutamic (Glu), histamine, norepinephrine (NE), and dopamine (DA), immune cytokines such as Interleukin-1-β (IL-1-β), Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and the main metabolites of gut microbiota, short chain fatty acids. Its mechanisms for improving sleep include stimulating the central nervous system to produce action potentials by binding neurotransmitters to related receptors, inhibiting inflammatory pathways, and improving the gut microenvironment. Finally, this article summarizes the dietary sources related to sleep regulatory factors, this provides some reference for the development of functional foods that can improve sleep in the next step.