If you are having a hard time getting a descent night’s sleep it could be due to the food that you are eating. Researchers from Benenden Health recently cited five foods as the worst culprits when it comes to keeping you up at night: Chocolate, Cheese, Ice Cream, Curry and Potato Chips.
The main reason for these foods making the list is their high, sugar, caffeine and salt contents. And chocolate has two of the three – caffeine and sugar.
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OK, so we all know not to have a cup of coffee before going to bed. But sometimes chocolate can be just as bad.
And anything with sugar is a problem because sugar boosts your energy and keeps you from falling asleep. And it can also cause you to wake up in the middle of the night when your blood sugar level falls. “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,” explained the scientists.
As for potato chips and the like, the high salt content is a problem because of what salt does to your system. Too much salt increases water retention and this can disrupt your sleep cycle.
Curry and other spices have high levels of capsaicin which elevates body temperature by interfering with the body’s thermoregulation process, which, in turn, disrupts sleep.
So, what could possibly be bad about eating cheese before going to bed? Well, you can relax as soft cheeses like cottage cheese are OK. It’s the hard cheeses that are a problem because they contain naturally high levels of the amino acid, tyramine, which makes people feel alert. Tyramine causes the adrenal gland to release the ‘fight or flight’ hormone, which increases alertness for a number of hours, explained the scientists.
“If you’ve tried every sleep remedy under the sun and you’re tired of struggling to sleep through the night, it could be because you’re eating the wrong foods before bed,” Benenden Health nurse practitioner Cheryl Lythgoe told the Huffington Post UK.
“You may love night-time snacks like chocolate, ice cream, or crisps, but they could be just the thing stopping you from getting those all-important eight hours,” she added.
