In Pics: Five Foods That Secretly Mess With Your Sleep
Some foods can quietly mess with your sleep, even if you don’t notice it. For example, caffeine isn’t just in coffee. It’s also in chocolate and certain teas. Having these later in the day can keep your brain awake when you want to sleep, making it harder to fall asleep and leaving you tired the next day. Spicy foods might taste great, but they can cause heartburn or stomach discomfort that makes it tough to fall asleep or stay comfortable all night, which means you might wake up feeling restless. Eating heavy or greasy meals before bedtime can leave your stomach feeling full and slow down digestion, making it harder to get a deep, restful sleep. Alcohol might seem like it helps you relax and fall asleep faster, but it interrupts your sleep cycles, so you wake up feeling groggy and less refreshed. And sugary snacks can cause your blood sugar to spike and then crash, leading to restless sleep and waking up multiple times during the night. The biggest disadvantage of all this is that poor sleep can affect your mood, focus, and overall health, making it harder to get through your day.
Spicy Food
Spicy food can quietly mess with your sleep because it warms up your body and sometimes causes heartburn if you eat it too close to bedtime. One major issue is that spicy ingredients like chili peppers contain capsaicin can raise the body temperature. It can also make you feel more alert when you want to relax, making it harder to fall asleep.
Caffeine
Caffeine is found in many everyday things like coffee, tea, chocolate, and some sodas. It provides a quick energy boost, but drinking it too late in the day can disrupt your sleep. Caffeine stays in the body for hours, so even an afternoon snack with caffeine can make falling asleep harder. It can also stop you from getting deep, restful sleep.
Sugary foods
Eating sugary snacks before bed can disrupt sleep. The sugar gives you a quick energy boost right when you want to relax, making it harder to fall asleep. Later, when your blood sugar drops, it can cause you to wake up or have restless sleep.
Fried Foods
Fried foods can mess with your sleep because they are hard to digest and can make your stomach feel uncomfortable. All those greasy fats can upset your body and make it harder to sleep well.
High-Fat Foods
Having high-fat foods like cheese before bedtime can quietly affect your sleep. They take longer to digest, which can leave your stomach feeling uneasy and make it tough to fall asleep or stay asleep. That heaviness can disrupt your rest, so you might wake up feeling tired the next day.
