Caffeine
For the sake of stating the obvious, let’s just get caffeine out of the way. Let’s be honest, it’s something that we ingest to keep ourselves awake, foods rich in caffeine should be avoided any time in the afternoon. Besides coffee and soda, certain over-the-counter medication and teas also contain caffeine; experiment with herbal teas as they contain less to none caffeine and certain ones like chamomile and passionflower have even shown signs of promoting healthier sleep.
Spicy/Hot Foods
For the most part, spicing up your food is recommended because it helps amp up the flavor and offers a variety of health benefits. But, eating spicy food does cause us to go through vicious heartburns and therefore should be avoided 2-3 hour prior to falling asleep. Laying down with spicy food in your stomach will only make your heartburn worse – leaving you sleepless and annoyed.
Tomato (general acidic foods)
Like spicy food, acidic foods also cause heartburns. Tomato is specifically mentioned because we don’t tend to think of tomato as something that is that acidic. For many people, tomatoes tend to be a common ingredient in dinners– pasta, soups, pizza, curries, and salads are just a few examples where we see it. Whether it is in its original form or as a sauce consuming it can give you heartburn so try to consume them 2-3 hours prior to sleeping.
Water/Fluid
Realistically, the importance of drinking water can never be stressed enough, it is one of the most beneficial items we put in our bodies. Ironically, water actually has features that promotes our sleep, a glass before bed is known to balance hormones and relax the muscles and joints. But, drink too much of it, and your sleep will be disrupted in order to attend the nature’s call. This is especially bad when such urgency occurs when you are in your REM phase. Lesson learned, limit water consumption before bed time and preferably relieve thyself before getting comfortable.
Alcohol
Seeing alcohol in this list may seem strange to many because alcohol is a known for its sedative properties. Yes, alcohol can help you fall asleep, but it is known to prevent you from fully utilizing the REM stage of your sleep resulting in a huge dip in the quality of your sleep. Since alcohol also dehydrates, you could also find yourself extremely thirsty in the middle of the night forcing you to wake up. The key is to drink no more than 2 servings and to drink sufficient water.
High Amounts of Sugary Carbs
We all crave a little bit of sweet goodness after our meals. Unfortunately, over doing it is easy and the results aren’t exactly…well sweet. High amounts of sugary carbs causes blood sugar to spike up and doing so right before the bed will keep you from getting tired. If avoiding sugary food is out of question, then do yourself a favor and go for a healthier treat like fruits. Remember, most grains are high in starch and impact our bodies similarly so avoid these foods too close to bed time, also.
Foods with Tyramine
Tyramine is an amino acid that has been linked to wakefulness. It is found in food items that have been aged, fermented, or spoiled. Cheeses like Parmesan, Romano, and many other are an example of this. Soy products like soy sauce, tofu, and teriyaki sauce and prepackaged and/or aged meats, pickled fish and beer should also be avoided if you want the best night’s sleep possible.
Big Dinners
For a few years now, dieticians have been recommending people to consume their dinners 3-4 hours prior to sleeping. This is to allow proper digestion to take place. Eating (big) meals close to bed time is 1) going to make falling asleep very uncomfortable and 2) it will take away a lot of the quality out of the experience. This is because food needs to properly metabolize and metabolism is supposed to be at a rest during sleep. Doing so repeatedly impacts your metabolism’s quality and your sleep and therefore should be avoided.
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