Chocolate and Sweets: The Sweet Saboteurs
Think that bar of chocolate is the perfect bedtime treat? Think again. Chocolate is packed with sugar, which can have a serious impact on how well you sleep. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that participants who ate more sugar and saturated fats experienced less deep sleep and woke up more throughout the night. But chocolate’s sleep-disrupting powers don’t stop at sugar content. High levels of caffeine in chocolate make it a poor choice for late-night snacking. During the latter stages of sleep, caffeine consumption can cause rapid eye movement (REM) to occur more frequently, which is why you’re more likely to feel groggy the morning after the night before. Even dark chocolate, which we often think of as the “healthier” option, contains enough caffeine to mess with your sleep cycles. That late-night chocolate craving might feel irresistible, but your future well-rested self will thank you for choosing something else. Chocolate and other foods with caffeine act as stimulants. They make it more difficult to slip into the deeper stages of sleep and decrease the amount of REM sleep you would normally get, ultimately disrupting restful sleep.
Alcohol: The False Sleep Aid
“Alcohol and sleep are not friends. They do not mix well.” This blunt assessment from sleep experts captures the reality of alcohol’s complex relationship with sleep. While that nightcap might make you feel drowsy initially, it’s setting you up for a restless night. Research has shown that those who drink large amounts of alcohol before bed are more likely to take less time to fall asleep, but are also more likely to experience sleep disruptions and decreases in sleep quality. But as the alcohol wears off, the body is likely to awaken more quickly and frequently, thus leading to a very disturbed night of sleep. When you go to bed with alcohol in your system, you’re likely to experience more N3 sleep—known as “deep sleep”—and less REM sleep than usual, at least initially. Later in the night, once your body has metabolized the alcohol, you’re likely to experience a rise in N1 sleep, the lightest stage of sleep. This can lead to frequent wakings and fragmented, low-quality sleep. Sleep experts recommend avoiding alcohol for at least three to four hours before bedtime, though some people may need even longer to prevent sleep disruption.
Caffeine: The Unexpected Late-Day Disruptor
You already know not to drink coffee right before bed, but caffeine’s sleep-sabotaging effects reach much further into your day than you might think. The study found that even when caffeine was taken six hours before bedtime, it significantly disrupted sleep, reducing total sleep time and increasing wake time during sleep. The study found that even when caffeine was taken six hours before bedtime, it significantly disrupted sleep, reducing total sleep time and increasing wake time during sleep. Even more surprising, recent research shows that high doses of caffeine can disrupt sleep when consumed up to 12 hours before bedtime. A new study has found that a 400 mg caffeine dose disrupts sleep up to 12 hours before bedtime, yet many people fail to notice these disruptions, especially when consumed earlier in the day. Researchers found that while a 100 mg dose of caffeine (roughly equivalent to one cup of coffee) can be consumed up to four hours before bedtime without significant effects on sleep, a 400 mg dose (comparable to four cups of coffee) disrupts sleep when taken up to 12 hours before bedtime. Data from roughly 160,000 Sleep Foundation profiles shows roughly 88% of people who regularly consume caffeine in the afternoon have also reported at least one sleep problem. The sneaky part? You might not even realize caffeine is affecting your sleep, making it harder to identify the culprit behind your restless nights.
Heavy, Fatty Foods: The Digestive Nightmare
Fatty, cheesy, and fried foods can lead to indigestion and keep you up at night. Avoid things like cheeseburgers, fries, fried foods, and large steaks late in the day. These heavy foods can also aggravate gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Your body works overtime to digest these foods, and when you lie down, gravity isn’t helping the process anymore. Eating a big meal, like a hamburger or a plate of pasta, right before bed can disrupt your sleep, says Abbasi-Feinberg. Digestion slows at night and laying flat after eating can lead to physical discomforts like heartburn and reflux. Think of it this way: your digestive system doesn’t clock out when you do. While you’re trying to sleep, your stomach is working the night shift, churning away at that late dinner. This internal activity can make it harder to fall asleep and stay comfortable throughout the night. The combination of physical discomfort and your body’s energy expenditure on digestion creates the perfect storm for poor sleep quality.
Spicy Foods: The Temperature Troublemakers
Anyone with heartburn knows that spicy dishes can lead to problems at night. Naturally, your body temperature should lower to facilitate sleep, however, hot peppers can boost your body’s temperature. Feeling hot can actually make you lie awake for longer. Spicy food, such as curries, hot sauce and mustard, contain high levels of capsaicin. This chemical elevates body temperature by interfering with the body’s thermoregulation process, which, in turn, disrupts sleep. Add this to the high levels of energy required to digest the spices, and you can kiss goodbye to a deep sleep. Your body’s natural cooling process is essential for signaling that it’s time to sleep. When spicy foods artificially raise your core temperature, you’re fighting against your body’s built-in sleep mechanisms. It’s like trying to fall asleep in a warm room when you really need it cool – your body just can’t settle into rest mode. If you love spicy food, save it for lunch when your body has plenty of time to cool down before bedtime.
High-Sugar Foods and Desserts
Sugary foods wreak havoc on sleep patterns. That is why you should avoid overly sugary snacks, which can cause your blood sugar to spike and then crash. Sugary cereals, desserts, and candy are not good nighttime treats for this reason. We all know that consuming too much sugar can have a negative impact on our health, but did you know it can also affect our sleep? 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. It’s like setting an internal alarm clock for the middle of the night – except you have no idea when it’s going to go off. Your body treats that sudden drop in blood sugar as a crisis situation, releasing stress hormones that jolt you awake. Even if you manage to fall back asleep, you’ve likely disrupted your natural sleep cycles and won’t wake up feeling as rested. Sugary cereals digest rapidly and the spike in blood sugar could throw off sleep hormones. Low-fiber diets are also linked to lower quality sleep.
Foods High in Tyramine
To increase sleep quality, specialists recommend cutting out foods that have a high amount of tyramine later in the day. This amino acid causes the brain to release a natural stimulant that facilitates brain activity. This can make falling asleep more challenging. Foods that are rich in tyramine include tomatoes, soy sauce, eggplant, red wine and aged cheeses. While cheese is generally considered a comfort food, it is actually one of the worst foods to eat before bed. Strong or aged cheese, as well as preserved meats such as bacon, ham and pepperoni, contains naturally high levels of the amino acid, tyramine, which make us feel alert. Tyramine causes the adrenal gland to release the ‘fight or flight’ hormone, which increases alertness for a number of hours. Think of tyramine as nature’s energy drink. It triggers your body’s alert system, making your brain more active when you should be winding down. That cheese and crackers snack that seems so innocent could be the reason you’re staring at the ceiling at 2 AM. These foods essentially put your nervous system on high alert, preparing your body for action rather than rest.
High-Water Content Foods
Getting up to go to the bathroom can really disrupt your rest. Of course, drinking plenty of water is an important part of staying healthy, but you want to avoid getting a full bladder in the middle of the night. It is best to steer clear of foods with high water content, including nutritious ones. This includes celery, watermelon, and cucumbers. This might seem like an outlier on our list of what not to eat before bed, but celery is a natural diuretic. That means it quickly pushes water through your system—ultimately leading you into the bathroom instead of your bed. It might seem counterintuitive to avoid healthy foods like watermelon and cucumbers, but timing is everything when it comes to sleep. These foods are fantastic for hydration during the day, but eating them close to bedtime sets you up for multiple bathroom trips throughout the night. Each time you wake up to use the bathroom, you’re interrupting your sleep cycles and making it harder to achieve deep, restorative sleep. Your body needs uninterrupted time to cycle through all the important stages of sleep, and a full bladder is the enemy of that process.
Acidic Foods and Citrus
Another trigger for acid reflux is – no surprise – highly acidic food. Things like citrus juice, raw onion, white wine, and tomato sauce can disturb sleep by making heartburn worse. That is why you may regret eating a slice of pizza before bed. Pizza is particularly problematic because it combines multiple sleep disruptors: the acidic tomato sauce, fatty cheese, and often spicy toppings create a perfect storm for nighttime discomfort. You might want to rethink that late-night order for pizza. That cheesy topping might give you nightmares, according to a 2015 study, and the acidic tomato sauce can lead to late night tummy aches. While pizza can healthy, it’s really too substantial for a bedtime snack; eating a second dinner adds a lot of extra calories that you probably don’t need. The burning sensation of heartburn isn’t just uncomfortable – it actively prevents your body from relaxing into sleep. When you’re lying flat, stomach acid has an easier time traveling up your esophagus, creating that familiar burning feeling that can keep you awake for hours. Even if the initial discomfort fades, the damage to your sleep quality has already been done.
High-Fiber and Gas-Producing Foods
Foods that are difficult to digest and contain a lot of fiber may cause painful gas. Pressure and cramping caused by too much dried fruit, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts can keep you up late. High-fiber fruits and vegetables are great for your body but not great for sleep; try to avoid them before bedtime. While these foods are nutritional powerhouses during the day, they become sleep saboteurs at night. Your digestive system has to work extra hard to break down high-fiber foods, and this process can produce gas and bloating that makes it uncomfortable to lie down. The cramping and pressure from trapped gas can wake you up throughout the night or make it impossible to find a comfortable sleeping position. Brussels sprouts might be great for your health, but they’re terrible for your sleep when eaten too close to bedtime. Think of high-fiber foods as requiring premium processing time from your digestive system – time that should be reserved for daytime when your body can handle the workload without interfering with sleep. Save the fiber-rich vegetables for lunch when your digestive system is at peak performance.
