I saw a post somewhere on the Net this morning about what foods not to eat at bedtime, if you want a good, sound night’s sleep. The author cited good solid scientific evidence to support his claim, but I thought he left some important items off his list of late night evils…
Probably the worst thing to eat just before bedtime…
But the big surprise was still to come… I Googled “What not to eat at bedtime” and got a mere 3.89 million returns. Seems lots of folks have lots of opinions about what can kill your sleep. So i did little survey…
- Coffee – Remains the number-one food item not to eat before bed. we all know about Caffeine and its stimulant effects. ‘Nuff said.
- Fat-heavy Foods – from bacon to Fries and other fried Foods, these will upset tour sleep cycle metabolism. and sit heavy in your stomach.
- Spicy, Foods – They’ll give you indigestion.Multiple levels of sleep-destroying aggravation.
- Concentrated Dairy Foods – Like Cheese and Ice Cream. Fat is a factor here, too. But so is the sad truth that, as we get older, many of us don’t digest Dairy as well as we used to. More indigestion and sleep metabolism troubles.
- Carb-heavy Foods – These are a bad idea for a couple of reasons, apparently. First, they require a lot of digestion power to process and may just go into storage as Fat if eaten at bedtime, when you’ll be in your least active mode for hours on end. Also, a load of Carbs can disrupt your sleeping metabolism, stealing your rest in spite of the fact that you were unconscious for 8 hours.
- Pizza – Is especially bad, because it combines the Dairy and Carb categories, above.
- Chocolate – It’s a source of Caffeine and has other ingredients that cause brain activity that might not be wanted at bedtime.
- Alcohol – Drinking before bed, especially drinking heavily, can do more than give you a hangover the next morning. It will rob you of the restorative effects of sleep, even if you’re out for 10 or 12 hours. Your body will work harder getting rid of the alcohol than it does during your usual active day.
On the other hand…
- Nothing – Eating nothing before bedtime may seem the best course based on the above examples of bad nighttime snacks. but it’s not. In fact, doctors say that excessive hunger at bedtime can cause sleeplessness.
So what do you do?
I think the best thing might be to scarf a few Dim Sum dumplings washed down by some nice Herbal Tea.
~ Maggie J.