Saturday, July 11, 2009

Food that rob your sleep

We all know quality sleep is important. For the growth of our body and for it repair and prepare itself for a new day. So in order to put ourselves into good sleep, other than providing us a comfortable bed, we should also observe the food we eat hours before our sleep. Our stomach roughly require 3-4 hours to fully diagest our last meal, so don't eat too much for and observe the food you eat during dinner.

The following is a list of those foods which can rob you of precious hours of shut-eye.

Anything Spicy
Foods with cayenne pepper, chili flakes, curry powder, large amounts of garlic, jalapenos, and other spices may flavor your food, but they can keep you up at night by irritating your stomach and intestines with ailments like heartburn, indigestion, and acid reflux. Also, MSG can cause you to have intense dreams that can also wake you up in the middle of the night.

Too Much Food
An evening meal over 500 calories can cause you to bloat and become overstuffed. Also, eating late can cause problems as your digestion could upset your sleep routine and cause you a fitful night of unrest. Experts say that lunch should be your heaviest meal because you have the rest of the day to digest. Eating too late at night can also spark unhappy dreams and late night informercial watching because your upset stomach is keeping you awake.

Alcohol & Caffeine
Alcohol is a downer, causing you to become sleepy a little while after you imbibe, but over a few hours you are sure to wake up if you had a few drinks and went right to sleep. Coffee, on the other hand, is known as an upper and drinking caffeine late in the day can cause you to become an insomniac and unable to fall asleep at night. Since every person has their cut off point, some can stand to drink caffeine all day while others can only have one cup in the morning. Experiment going without caffeine and having coffee, tea, or your favorite caffeinated product at different times during the day to determine your personal caffeine limit.

Eating Too Fast
Hunger can be a terrible enemy and waiting too long between meals or eating too little during the day can make people aggravated. When you eat too fast you end up swallowing a bunch of air. With air trapped in your stomach, sleeping can be a problem.

Gas-Producing Foods
Beans, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, are all healthy and great for nutrition, but eating them too close to bed time can cause gas to get trapped in your digestive system and are sure to disturb your REM cycle.

If you succeed in avoiding all of these steps to a good rest and still have trouble sleeping, another option is to keep a food journal in order to track what you eat on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. You can also record successful sleep this way and find out which food and drink routines are best for keeping you dreaming for longer. Stay tuned for another article on the foods that help you sleep easier.

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