Chocolate, wine, and more of your favorite foods could be keeping you up all night.
If you think your diet and sleep are unrelated, you are wrong. The foods you consume before going to sleep could be keeping you up.
Even though late dinners are sometimes impossible to avoid, studies suggest nighttime snacking, regardless of what you munch on, leads to poorer sleep quality. Certain types of food are worse, however. You can make the difference between a night of restful sleep and a night filled with tossing and turning by learning which foods to avoid before bed.
Chocolate
Dark chocolate has many health benefits, but it may not be conducive to a good night's sleep.
Several antioxidants found in dark chocolate, many of which come from cocoa beans, are responsible for benefits to our hearts, including increased levels of HDL (good) cholesterol and healthier blood vessels. The more cocoa content, the more benefits you'll receive. Just one ounce of 70 per cent cocoa has 40 milligrams of caffeine, which is equivalent to half a cup of coffee. No wonder, nibbling a morsel before bed might keep you up all night.
Fatty Foods
In terms of healthy eating, there are times and places for fats, but this cannot be right before you head to bed. Red and processed meats, fried foods, and greasy junk foods like potato chips are all high in fats.
When you have acid reflux, stomach acid makes its way into your esophagus, causing heartburn, a symptom that makes falling asleep difficult. Heartburn may also keep you awake during the night.
The pain of heartburn can prevent you from falling asleep and keep you up throughout the night. If you want to indulge before bed, do so at least three hours before sleeping.
Spicy food
Spicy food won't cause nightmares, but it can disrupt your sleep. Some spicy foods aggravate acid reflux, which can cause heartburn and damage the esophagus. If your esophagus already suffers from reflux, spicy foods can exacerbate the irritation.
In addition, acid reflux symptoms may worsen when lying down, and sleep troubles, such as insomnia, are more common among those with acid reflux.
A spicy curry dish can interfere with sleep in other ways. At least one small study shows that men have more trouble falling and sleeping after eating hot sauce and mustard.
Alcohol
Everyone who's knocked back a few, too many, can tell you that alcohol makes you sleepy. But this sleepiness doesn't always translate into a peaceful slumber. Drinking alcohol can inhibit restorative sleep, aggravate existing breathing problems, and cause you to wake up several times throughout the night.
The more alcohol you ingest before bed, the more negative impact it has on sleep quality. Sleepless nights are not life-threatening, but interrupting your nightly rest with a drink could cause more fatigue and stress.
Ice Cream
When you lie your head down, you might regret the heaping spoonful of ice cream you ate during your girls, night to mend your broken heart.
One cup of chocolate ice cream, for example, contains 34 grams of sugar and 14 grams of fat, both of which are associated with lighter sleep and more sleeping interruptions, a study suggests.
Another study has found that poor sleep makes you crave junk food, which means the process may repeat—and be even more destructive to your waistline. Still hungry? Try this instead: low-fat string cheese and an apple, or whole-grain crackers with peanut butter.
You must be logged in to post a comment.