Many people love to binge-eat late-night snacks while watching their favourite movies. While they are tasty, they frequently disrupt your sleep and make you toss and turn on your bed until late hours. Health experts have time and again warned that a good night’s sleepis the first step to a healthy body and mind. Eating unhealthy snacks and junk food after 8 pm is only the recipe for trouble.
Here are 5 food items which you should consider banning from your diet, especially before bedtime.
Pizza
Pizza is one of the most popular night snacks and people love to eat. However, it is also the most unhealthy food as well. The tomato sauce and cheese present in pizza trigger heartburn because of its acidic nature, leading to bad sleep.
Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate contains a high amount of caffeine which disturbs sleep when eaten after 8 pm. It doubles the energy and keeps you awake for longer hours. While eating a little can be fine, consuming it in large quantities is a big NO.
Coffee Or Alcohol
Alcohol helps doze off but it is not the natural sleep that helps your body. Since alcohol relaxes the muscles, it exacerbates obstructive sleep apnea and loud snoring. On the other hand, coffee or any food item which is loaded with hidden caffeine should be avoided before bedtime. It decreases the amount of REM sleep and disrupts your sound sleeping time.
Spicy Or Acidic Foods
Spicy foods cause heartburn and you do not want it when you are sleeping. Also, the spice or hot peppers present in food raise your body’s temperature while it should be lower for a good sleep. Along with spicy foods, acidic foods should be avoided for dinner as well. Foods like citrus juice, tomato sauce, raw onion, and white wine trigger heartburn.
Chicken or Red Meat
Animal-based protein takes a lot of energy to digest. Eating chicken or red meat for dinner or as a late-night snack can keep you awake for longer hours. Eat it in lunch for the best benefits as the protein present in it contains amino acid-tyrosine that promotes brain activity.
Instead of these foods, it is better to eat items like oats, yogurt, almonds, hummus, cheese, granola, whole-grain toast, Chamomile, ginger and passionfruit tea, berries among others.
