5 Foods You Should Avoid Before Bed (And What You Can Eat Instead)

Nov 06, 2018

It's so important for you to get a good night's sleep. Sometimes you will sleep like a baby and other nights you can struggle with sleeping at all - maybe you even struggle with insomnia a lot. Your health can make an impact on how your sleep.

It shouldn't be a surprise that what we eat before going to bed can really affect your sleep patterns. We did some research to find out what you should or shouldn't eat before putting those pj's on at night.

Fast food is not just bad for you, it also affects your sleep in a negative way. This tasty burger can have you lying awake with heartburn all night. This is due to the bacon which holds more fat than a lot of other meats. This fat stimulates your body to produce stomach acid which in turns causes that lovely heartburn.

While a glass of wine may be very relaxing before bed, you may want to start avoiding it. Because alcohol is a diuretic, this will cause you to have the urge to urinate throughout the night. Your relaxing glass of wine could turn into a night of running to the bathroom. Not to mention, this can cause you to snore more than you normally would and may even cause you to wake yourself from a deep sleep.

To all you chocolate lovers out there, save your snack for the daytime! All chocolate has caffeine, but dark chocolate has caffeine and theobromine. This little snack could have your heart pounding away and have you lying there with your eyes wide open. This is likely to increase your chance of insomnia significantly. It's worth waiting till daylight to indulge.

Chicken is great to eat because it's loaded with protein, but that's exactly why you don't need to be eating it before bed. The large amounts of protein in chicken will cause your digestion to decrease by a whopping 50 percent! Because of this, your body is going to be working to digest the chicken throughout the entire night which means you won't be resting well at all.

For a peaceful night, you will want to avoid adding spice to your meals. Adding spices to foods before sleep can cause some ugly heartburn. This heartburn isn't easy to get rid of and will likely leave you lying there in agony, wide awake.

Bananas contain a lot of magnesium and calcium. This helps the muscles to regenerate and will help you sleep well. Bananas would be great to stock up on and eat as a snack before bed.

Turkey has tryptophan in it. This helps with increasing your mood and ability to sleep better. It actually regulates the rhythm of your sleep and the quality. Eating turkey 1.5 to 2 hours before sleep is almost sure to guarantee you a good night's rest.

Milk is another food that has tryptophan in it. Have you ever wondered why your mother always gave you milk right before bed? Drink this and you will be feeling sleepy and restful in no time.

Jasmine rice will slowly release glucose into your bloodstream throughout the night. This actually has the effect of reducing the amount of sleep you need!

Melatonin is found in cherries. This is a natural hormone that our bodies produce to help us sleep. This helps your body to control it's internal clock and you will benefit from sleeping better and deeper just from eating these little sweet treats or drinking a glass of tart cherry juice before bed.

Will you be changing your bedtime diet? I know I will! Send this on to the health freak in your life and see what they have to say.

Our content is created to the best of our knowledge, yet it is of general nature and cannot in any way substitute an individual consultation by your doctor. Your health is important to us!