Which foods should be avoided before bed ?

Two essential elements of a healthy life are eating and sleeping. Food provides the energy people need daily, and sleep allows them to relax and heal physically.

Sleep quality enormously impacts daily life since poor or disordered sleep can affect your work, concentration, and ability to interact with others. During sleep, physical and mental restoration occurs, allowing you to feel fresh and alert in the morning.

Unwanted sleep conditions can result from a sedentary lifestyle, dietary factors, environmental factors, stress, and/or any underlying health condition.

Understanding how the body processes food at night can facilitate making educated decisions regarding bedtime snacking.

Our dietary choices impact the quality of our sleep. Similarly, the timings at which we eat particular food impact our sleep patterns. Therefore, eating at night can affect our ability to fall asleep quickly, sleep quality, and morning mood.

What meals must then be eliminated from your evening routine to get that good night’s sleep?

All things considered, you should cut back on stimulants, hard-to-digest meals, too sugary or spicy foods, and items that exacerbate heartburn. Read this piece to understand the list of foods to avoid before bed.

The Best Nutrients for a Restful Night

You’re prepared to satisfy your appetite now. What happens next? According to most nutritionists and sleep experts, some meals are better than others.

While certain meals include elements that might help us sleep better, others may have the opposite impact and cause us to be restless at night.

The most excellent foods before bed should support your body’s ability to control mood and sleep. These meals and snacks need to be a healthy supply of the following essential nutrients ^[1]:

• Tryptophan, an amino acid present in milk, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and fish. 
• Magnesium, an essential mineral present in nuts, seeds, bananas, milk, rice, yogurt, fish and chicken. 

These essential nutrients guarantee a better, deeper sleep.

Magnesium and tryptophan both help synthesise and regulate melatonin, a hormone essential to our circadian rhythm, and prepare our bodies for sleep ^[2].

Types of Foods & Drinks to Avoid Before Bed

Sometimes, you might have had a tiring day, but you struggle to sleep. You might wonder why.

The reasons can be varied. However, diet plays an essential role in your sleeping routine, and here are a few foods you can avoid before you tuck yourself into bed.

1. Alcohol

While it would appear like a few beers, a few glasses of wine, or a nightcap aid with sleep, they actually don’t. However, there are three good reasons not to consume alcohol—especially not too much of it—right before bed.

• Snoring and Sleep Apnea

Alcohol use alters the body’s natural processes, which impacts those who snore and those who have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition in which tissues in the throat or nose collapse, momentarily blocking the airway^[3].

For instance, alcohol relaxes the muscles of the neck and tongue. It also alters the blood vessels in the nose, making the nasal passageways more airway-resistant. Sleep breathing episodes occur more often and last longer due to these changes and disrupt sleep^[4].

• Circadian Rhythm Disruptions

Circadian rhythms, or biological cycles that follow a 24-hour clock, seem to be disrupted by alcohol consumption and addiction.

Research suggests that consuming alcohol could reduce the body’s sensitivity to indications, such as daylight and darkness, which initiate shifts in body temperature and release of the sleep hormone melatonin ^[5].

A person may feel alert when they want to sleep and drowsy when they want to be awake if these changes, essential to the sleep-wake cycle, are diminished or missing.

• REM (rapid eye movement)  Cycle

While it helps you fall asleep, alcohol disrupts your body’s natural sleep cycle later in the evening. This may result in less deep, rejuvenating REM sleep for you. The most active part of your brain during REM sleep is processing memories, emotions, and ideas^[6].

Moreover, that’s when you dream the most. This may result from frequent awakenings and sporadic, poor-quality sleep ^[7].

If you don’t get enough REM sleep, you may feel more worn out and agitated and find it difficult to focus the next day.

2. Heavy Foods

The famous saying “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper” advises consuming more calories and nutrients in the morning and less in the evening .

The body’s circadian rhythm, or 24-hour clock, regulates when we eat, when to get up, and when to go to sleep; thus, there may be some validity to the saying. Sleep disturbances might result from the discomfort of a heavy stomach.

Your body may try to handle the digestion of a large meal by causing frequent awakenings and trouble falling back asleep.

Above all, laying down shortly after eating can push stomach acid back into the esophagus, which can burn and interfere with sleep^[8].

Avoid things as mentioned below late in the day.

• Deep-fried foods 
• Highly processed foods and meats 
• Cheeseburgers 
• Pizza 
• Spaghetti
• Macaroni and cheese 
• Nachos with cheese 
• Ice cream sundaes
• Creamy alfredo pasta

3. Foods with High Water Content

Everyone should prioritize a good night’s sleep; no one wants to interfere with their sleep schedule. Thus, you must ensure your body is operating normally at night. Consuming fluids too close to bedtime can disrupt your sleep cycle.

Using toilets is one reason why you can wake up in between. Naturally, staying hydrated is essential to good health, but you don’t want to have a full bladder in the middle of the night^[9].

Getting up to use the restroom might interfere with your sleep. It is preferable to avoid eating anything rich in water content, even if the item is healthful. This comprises:

• Watermelon
• Cucumber
• Celery
• Oranges
• Grapefruit
• Strawberries
• Pineapple
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Cantaloupe

4. Foods with Caffeine

Sipping on mugs of coffee and tea is a common practice to keep oneself awake or refreshed. So, the answer is very simple: caffeine disrupts sleep patterns.

You may experience slower sleep onset, fewer hours of total sleep, and less fulfilling sleep if you consume caffeine. Additionally, it may lessen your quantity of deep, slow-wave sleep, which is essential for feeling rested.

Coffee blocks adenosine receptors, which affects the brain^[10]. The brain produces the sleep-inducing chemical adenosine when we are awake. Generally, the longer you are awake, the more adenosine accumulates in the brain.

The more it builds up, the sleepier you become. Caffeine prevents this process, keeping you awake and aware. And this might be the reason coffee drinking interferes with sleep^[11].

Particular examples of foods with caffeine are as follows:

• Coffee
• Tea (black, green, and some herbal teas)
• Chocolate (dark and milk)
• Energy drinks
• Soft drinks (cola and certain sodas)
• Coffee-flavored desserts (like tiramisu)
• Chocolate ice cream
• Caffeinated protein bars
• Certain over-the-counter medications (e.g., pain relievers)
• Matcha and green tea-flavored foods

5. Super Sugary Treats

An excessive amount of sugar raises the risk of diabetes, promotes tooth damage, and induces weight gain. However, it also has another significant effect: it disrupts your sleep, and the lack of sleep will make you need more sweets.

Eating sugar late at night overstimulates you. It gives you energy and prepares you for activity, but that is not what we try to do at night. Our natural tendency is to wind down at the end of the day.

Sugar depletes magnesium, an essential mineral for restful sleep, and insulin yo-yos disrupt sleep cycles^[12]. You should avoid excessive sugary foods because they can cause your blood sugar to surge and then plummet.

Particular examples of foods that are super sugary treats are as follows:

• Cotton candy
• Desserts (jalebi, gulab jamun, rasgulla etc.)
• Gummy bears
• Caramel popcorn
• Candy canes
• Frosted donuts
• Chocolate fudge
• Lollipops
• Cupcakes with frosting
• Milkshakes
• Sugar cookies
• Marshmallows
• Cinnamon rolls with icing
• Jelly beans
• Fruit-flavored candy
• Syrupy pancakes or waffles

6. Tyramine-Rich Foods

Experts advise avoiding meals high in tyramine later in the day to improve the quality of your sleep. The production of this amino acid by the brain results in the release of a natural stimulant that promotes brain function ^[12].

This may make it harder to fall asleep. Tyramine-containing foods include the following:

• Aged Cheeses
• Ham
• Sausages
• Smoked or pickled fish
• Sauerkraut
• Kimchi
• Pickles
• Alcoholic Beverages
• Red wine
• Beer (especially tap or draft beer)
• Aged liquors (whiskey, bourbon, etc.)
• Soy sauce
• Tofu (especially fermented types)
• Overripe bananas
• Avocados (significantly overripe)
• Figs
• Eggplant
• Broad beans
• Chocolate
• Nuts (especially peanuts)

7. Spicy Foods

A spicy meal just before bed might cause sleep disturbances. Eating spicy food can lead to indigestion, heartburn, and acid reflux, making it difficult to fall asleep. Such food can also increase body temperature, which can hinder sleep.

Most notably, it can lead to acid reflux that might irritate your airway and exacerbate sleep apnea symptoms. Additionally, red pepper consumption increases core body temperature, which is disruptive because core body temperature typically decreases during sleep ^[13].

The body may have more difficulty undergoing this temperature shift if it is overheated.
Indian spicy cuisine includes the following:

• Spicy snacks (samosa, chaata, pav bhaji)
• Flavourful Gravies
• Spicy chicken dishes (chicken 65, pepper chicken, chilli chicken)
• Spicy paneer dishes
• Food dishes with chilli powder

8. Acidic Foods

Unsurprisingly, eating a lot of acidic food can also cause acid reflux. Acid reflux is when stomach acid escapes the stomach and re-enters the oesophagus from eating acidic meals.

It may be uncomfortable or seem like something is burning in the chest, especially if you’re lying down. This might make it hard to go to sleep or remain asleep. Frequent nighttime awakenings due to acid reflux might result in disturbed and low-quality sleep.

You could thus regret having a piece of pizza right before bed. Typical acidic meals include:

• Lemons
• Limes
• Oranges
• Grapefruits
• Pineapples
• Tomatoes
• Vinegar
• Pickles
• Sauerkraut
• Soda
• Wine
• Coffee
• Cranberries
• Plums
• Blueberries
• Pomegranates
• Sour candies
• Tangy sauces and dips 

9. Foods that Make You Gassy

Certain food varieties may be detrimental to restful sleep. Hard-to-digest and high-fiber foods can cause hurting gas. Eating a lot of fiber, especially insoluble fiber-rich meals, might make you feel bloated and gassy.

The breakdown of these meals takes longer for your digestive system. Eating them right before bed might keep your digestive system working when it should be resting, which can cause bloating or discomfort that can delay you from falling asleep^[15].

Excessive amounts of dried fruit, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts might induce pressure and cramps that keep you up late. Thus, while high-fiber fruits and vegetables are excellent for your health, you should avoid them right before bed. 

Also, bloating, abdominal pain and cramps can affect your sleep cycle. So it’s better to limit the intake of FODMAP-containing foods such as

• Raspberries
• Turnips
• Cabbage
• Corn
• Lentils
• Peas
• Apple
• Pears
• Onions
• Radishes
• Lentils
• Bananas
• Oranges
• Strawberries
• Figs
• Avocados
• Artichokes
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Green peas
• Spinach
• Kale
• Cauliflower
• Beets

Healthy Sleep Tips

Besides avoiding heavy meals just before bed, take further measures to enhance your sleep hygiene.

• Establish a nighttime routine: Engage in a peaceful hobby like reading or bathing one hour before bedtime. Before going to bed, avoid using your phone, computer, or TV screens since the blue light from these gadgets might interfere with your ability to fall or remain asleep.
• Establish a relaxing sleeping environment: A calm, excellent, dark space is suitable for sleeping. 65º to 68º F is considered comfortable for most people to sleep in.
• Just use the bed for sleeping: Don’t use it for working or eating. In addition, if you still can’t sleep after around twenty minutes, get out of bed and read or engage in another peaceful activity until you are exhausted.
• Exercise regularly: Getting to sleep and staying asleep more easily is only one of the numerous advantages of regular exercise. Most individuals should aim for at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intense activity, including riding a bike or walking. But refrain from working out two or three hours before going to bed.
• Strategic napping: Taking a nap in the afternoon after 3 p.m. might cause difficulty falling asleep at night. If you must nap throughout the day, keep it to no more than twenty minutes.
• Last Meal: Have your last meal at least 2-3 hours before sleep time. 

To summarise, helpful sleep rituals might include taking a warm bath, reading in bed briefly, meditating, and listening to calming music. Try each and discover which one suits you the best.

The Bottom Line

The onset of hunger is not always within our control. Additionally, there are moments when we find ourselves pulled to the refrigerator’s light as the sun sets. When that occurs, we may make dietary choices that both satiate our cravings and promote deeper sleep.

Your physical and mental health depends on getting a good night’s sleep; the food you consume before bed dramatically impacts your sleep. To help you sleep better, try avoiding coffee, alcohol, spicy, high-fat, and heavy meals; you may also try avoiding sugary snacks, citrus fruits, tomatoes, high-protein foods, and carbonated beverages.

Though the beloved beverage from childhood, a warm glass of milk, is still on the list, be assured that a well-balanced diet will help transport you to a dream world.

Frequently Asked Questions