Late night snacks and dinner are an inevitable part of life. But what if these foods may be part of the reason you are struggling to go to sleep? There are myths about what time you should eat dinner for weight loss, etc. And it's pretty well understood that you should avoid eating too late, so as to not be interrupted by food digestion. But what about specific foods that can interrupt your ability to get a good night's sleep? Below is a list that may help guide your late night cravings so you can go right to sleep without any issues.
Chocolate
Chocolate is a yummy component of many desserts and snacks. If you consume chocolate right before bed, however, you may find yourself having trouble going to sleep. This is because chocolate contains caffeine, a stimulant that disrupts sleep-wake cycles. Caffeine causes you to experience more rapid eye movement (REM) cycles during sleep which can lead to you feeling groggy in the mornings. Other foods and drinks with high caffeine content include coffee, certain teas, and sodas.
Aged Cheese and Preserved Meats
Cheese is a delicious comfort food, as well as yummy meats like bacon, pepperoni, and ham. However, eating them right before bed can be problematic because they have high levels of tyramine. Tyramine is a chemical that activates the adrenal gland and releases epinephrine. Epinephrine is the driver of adrenaline, so you may feel like going into flight or fight mode which is definitely not how you want to feel as you are trying to go to bed..
Spicy Foods
Any spicy foods like mustard, curry, hot sauce, etc. should be avoided before bed as they have high levels of capsaicin. Capsaicin elevates the body's temperature and dysregulates the body's thermoregulation system. In addition to heating up your body, spicy foods are also a beast for the body to digest. This means a lot of energy going towards digestion at a time when your body should be using minimal energy. It is definitely a good idea to skip the late night buffalo wings and opt for something more mild.
High Sugar Contents
Desserts, especially delicious late night guilty pleasures like ice cream, can cause a mid-slumber adrenal burst of activity. The high sugar content in ice cream, candy, and other sweet treats can cause a rapid spike of sugar and then a crash in blood sugar while you're sleeping. This crash alerts your adrenal system that something is wrong, and the burst of activity to get your body back to normal may disrupt your sleep.
Salty Foods
Chips, popcorn, crackers, and pretzels are the easiest late night snacks. However, their high salt content could be counter productive to your sleeping efforts. This is because high salt content in your bloodstream can draw the water out of organs and cells to account for the change in osmolarity (salt to water ratio). This causes an overall dehydration effect, and can induce "superficial" sleep.
Acidic Foods
Foods such as citrus (lime or lemon), tomato sauce, and white wine, are all foods that could induce acid reflux. If you already experience heartburn, then you should definitely avoid these foods. These will cause the acids in your stomach ramp up which can irritate the bottom of your esophagus, leading to the uncomfortable burning that will definitely interrupt your ability to get a good night's sleep.
If you notice that you consume these foods before bed, and you've often found yourself struggling to get to sleep, try eating non-caffeinated and non-irritating foods such as oats, grains, honey, hummus, bananas, berries, cherries, and milk, all of which are sleep inducing foods.
After trying these changes, if you still are having trouble sleeping, please take the free online sleep test to see what else may be affecting your ability to get a good slumber.
[Sources]:
https://www.benenden.co.uk/be-healthy/nutrition/the-best-and-worst-foods-for-sleep/