If you routinely hit the snooze button because you desperately want a few more minutes of shut-eye, experts suggest you look at your diet.
Cheryl Lythgoe, a British nutrition expert, has revealed the worst foods to consume in the evening if you struggle to get a good night’s sleep.
However, it can be challenging to ignore the nightly hunger pains, especially after putting in a long day’s work. Experts suggest avoiding “stimulants,” including sugar in foods like ice cream or chocolate, before you turn in for the night.
Lythgoe told the Huffington Post that “Going to bed on an empty stomach drops blood sugar levels and interferes with the body’s ability to sleep well. But avoid stimulants such as sugars or caffeine, as they will keep you up at night.”
Chocolate
It’s easy to try to bypass this one because who doesn’t want a tasty piece of chocolate before bed?
However, a lot of chocolate is packed with caffeine, a stimulant in beverages like tea and coffee, which are notorious for keeping you wide awake.
“Chocolate contains a trifecta of substances — theobromine, sugar, and caffeine — that create a perfect storm for sabotaging sleep. Chocolate is a solid course of caffeine, and like your morning jog, it can give you a jolt of energy, which you don’t need at nighttime when you’re trying to wind down,” according to Livestrong.
Chips
Enjoying your favorite television series before bedtime without a snack or two ready isn’t much fun. While chips are often the chosen snack, experts warn they could be what kicks off nightmares.
Chips are loaded with salt, which could make you even hungrier and lead to further overeating. It’s difficult to doze off when you’re tearing through the kitchen for another bag of chips. Overconsumption of salt also causes dehydration, increasing water retention and making for an uncomfortable night’s sleep.
Ice cream
Ice cream is a sweet treat enjoyed almost any time of day. But it’s best to restrict this snack to daylight hours if you suffer from inadequate sleep.
According to Lythgoe, “Sugary foods, such as ice cream and sweets, send blood sugar levels spiking at first, which then crash whilst you are asleep. A crash in blood sugar alerts the adrenals that there is an emergency, which, in turn, increases cortisol levels and wakes the body from slumber.”
Spicy foods
There aren’t many foods more satisfying at night to settle a roaring stomach than spicy food like a spicy curry.
However, you might want to save your spicy cravings for a lunchtime treat because it could cause a whole host of problems for you at night. Mexican food, curries, and other flavorsome meals use an array of chilies and spices to achieve this.
But spicy foods contain high levels of capsaicin — an active chemical in chili peppers that makes the mouth hot to touch. Although they are a treat on the lips, spicy foods are troublesome at night as they raise the body’s temperature, making it difficult to get a good night’s sleep.
Cheese
Cheese is a comfort snack considered one of the worst to have before bed, as it contains high levels of the amino acid tyramine, which makes you feel alert. Consuming strong cheese like parmesan and cheddar right before bed can increase your heart rate, making it a challenge to get decent sleep.
Experts explain that tyramine causes the adrenal glands to release the “fight or flight” hormone, which increases alertness for several hours.
Acid can also be found in sandwich meats like ham, pepperoni, and bacon, so avoiding them in the evening is best.
