The Best and the Worst Things to Eat Before Bed

Eating before bed is always a bit of a gamble. It can either help you drift off into a comfortable night’s sleep, or have you tossing and turning all night. To make things worse, if you lead an unhealthy lifestyle, the body often tends to get late night cravings for the foods it can really do without. It’s not just about quality of sleep though, eating the wrong things before bed can also cause rapid weight gain, and even damage to the tissues in your throat and oesophagus. Getting it right is important, so here is our list of our best and worst foods to eat before bed.

The Good:

Sweet Potatoes
This root vegetable is full of sleep promoting complex carbs, and muscle relaxing potassium. It is an ideal combination for fighting off hunger cravings in the run up to bed.

Valerian Tea
The root of the valerian plant has been shown to help promote healthy sleep and improve overall sleep quality. It’s possible to get it in tea bags, making for a great pre-sleep hot drink.

Turkey
Turkey contains large amounts of tryptophan, a chemical associated with feelings of drowsiness after eating a meal. It’s probably the reason you have fallen asleep in front of the TV after a particularly large Sunday roast, and just in the same way, it can be harnessed for a good night’s sleep.

Banana
Much like sweet potatoes, banana contains a great mix of muscle relaxing potassium and sleep promoting carbs.

Fortified Cereal
Although it is not well known, carbs are actually pretty good at promoting sleep, but they need to be complex. Sure, you could go crazy on a box of heavily processed snack, but the mix of chemicals and other compounds involved will likely end up counteracting the effects of the carbs, and actually keep you up at night. Try a bowl of fortified cereal, these contain the complex carbs you need, without all the unwanted additions.

Milk
Having a glass of milk to help you drift off to sleep is not just an old wives tale. Milk contains high amounts of tryptophan, which helps sooth and settle the body into sleep.

Cherries
Saving the best for last, cherries are one of the few available foods that contain natural melatonin. This is a compound used by the body to regulate its internal clock, and plays a huge role in sleep. The body also produces melatonin, which is regulated by light. As our surroundings get darker, the body steps up production to get the body ready for bed. However, due to the fact that most of us watch TV, or use our phones late into the night, melatonin production can often be inhibited (as these devices produce light). Eating cherries can help counter this, and send you blissfully off to sleep.

The Bad

Cheese
Although people say eating cheese before bed stimulates dreams, it is an extremely fatty food that can cause acid reflux in your sleep, as well as cause you to rapidly put on weight.

Nuts
Although many nuts are healthy to eat regularly, you should try and avoid them in the lead up to bed. This is because nuts contain ingredients that can cause acid reflux, which you really want to avoid.

Heavily Spiced Food
Research has found that spices, such as tobacco, or even mustard can make it much harder to fall asleep at night.

Red meat and chicken
Or anything else high in protein for that matter. When we sleep our digestion slows down by about 50%. This gets even slower when large amounts of protein become involved, and it results in your body focusing its attention on digestion instead of winding down for sleep.

The Ugly

Alcohol
Although a night cap may seem like a good idea, it is one of the worst things you can do. Yes alcohol may make you drowsy, but it prevents it body from getting the deep and REM sleep it requires. So sure, it can knock you out, but you will be much worse off in the morning. If you drink to sleep long-term, you will severely damage your quality of life.

Caffeine
This is a no brainer really, caffeine is a stimulant that will prevent your body from fully getting the rest it needs. Ideally you should not consume caffeine any time after early to late afternoon. This includes things like Red Bull, Mountain Due and coffee.

Chocolate
Most chocolate holds the terrible mix of fat and caffeine, so not only will it keep you up at night, but also contribute to weight gain and acid reflux.

Soda
Soda is as bad as it gets. It often contains caffeine, is extremely acidic and increases the pressure in your stomach – it is the fastest way to ensure a bad night’s sleep.

So, next time you get a midnight craving, or know you are going to be eating late, ensure you keep the above in mind – it can could make all the difference between a good and a bad night’s sleep!