If you drink coffee or tea in the evening, you may find it hard to fall asleep at night.
Caffeine can be found in many foods and drinks, such as chocolate, energy drinks, and decaffeinated coffees.
Besides caffeine, there are other types of foods or drinks that may disturb your sleep.
Johns Hopkins sleep experts suggest people who want to have a good sleep limit their intake of three things in their dinner.
Spicy foods
Research has shown that eating spicy foods can lead to heartburn, which can strongly influence sleep.
And when people lie down, their acid reflux often gets worse. People with sleep apnea may also get worse symptoms.
Studies also have found that eating red pepper can increase core body temperature. This may have a negative impact because core body temperature usually drops during sleep.
Experts suggest people avoid spicy foods within three hours of bedtime. Tomato sauce and other acidic foods may also need to be avoided if they lead to heartburn or indigestion.
Foods high in protein or fats
Foods rich in protein usually need a long time to break down. This can be a problem for people who need to sleep early because digestion slows by about 50% in sleep.
Foods high in fats could decrease the sensitivity to the brain chemical orexin, which helps regulate the body’s sleep clock.
To sleep well, people need to reduce their intake of these foods. Instead, they can eat foods high in complex carbohydrates such as whole-wheat toast or a bowl of oatmeal.
These foods can trigger the sleepy hormone and they only need a short time to digest.
Alcohol
Many people feel drinking alcohol make them sleep more quickly and more deeply.
But research has shown that when the effect of alcohol is gone, people can wake up during very important stages of sleep.
Regularly using alcohol to fall asleep may cause sleep disorders and memory problems.
Researchers suggest that people can drinks of tart cherry juice before bed, which is a natural source of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin.
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