Is your diet disrupting your sleep?

Do you find yourself struggling to settle for the night? Do you wake up multiple times, or wake in the morning without feeling refreshed?Your diet could be having an impact on the quality of your sleep. Eating and drinking the right things, at the right times, can improve how you sleep at night.

Here’s how your dietary habits might be disrupting your sleep.

Do you drink coffee after dinner?

The after-dinner coffee is an age-old tradition. But it’s not good for your sleep.

In fact, your sleep can be disrupted by coffee within six hours of bedtime. If you plan to go to bed at 10 pm, then your last coffee should be finished no later than 4 pm.

Caffeine is a natural stimulant. It helps you to wake in the morning, but will do the same thing at night.

Are high fat foods a bad idea?

High fat foods – the kind that we often label ‘junk food’ – can lead to less refreshing sleep.

Foods that are high in fat are harder to digest. Of the USDA’s top 100 high-fat foods, 33% are junk foods.

When food is harder to digest, your body needs to keep working hard. It’ll need to do this even when you’re winding down for sleep.Whilst some fat is important, look for the right types of fat and skip the burgers before bed.

What about a night out?

You’ve been on a night out, and arrive home feeling drowsy and tired.Whilst alcohol can make you feel sleepy, is it actually good for restful sleep?

In fact, having alcohol in your body will disrupt your natural sleep pattern. Far from being a nightcap, an alcoholic beverage depresses the nervous system. You don’t feel sleepy because you’ve triggered the body functions required for restful sleep, but because you’ve slowed brain function and artificially relaxed your muscles.

Normally your brain is in charge of sleep, releasing all the right hormones, but with alcohol you disrupt this system. As a result, you don’t get anywhere near as much important REM sleep.

Cheese on crackers before bed?

Cheese has a reputation for increasing vivid dreams. That’s not because it’s sending you into deeper REM sleep.

In fact, cheese contains high doses of tyramine. This amino acid wakes your brain and makes it feel more alert. Eating cheese before bed will make it harder to switch off at night.

Are spicy foods bad for bedtime?

Eating curry in the evening will also affect your sleep quality. As well as potentially causing indigestion, which will stop you from sleeping soundly, spicy food can affect your body temperature.

After you’ve eaten spicy food, your body doesn’t regulate its temperature quite as easily. There are surprisingly specific temperatures that are best for sleeping in – 15°C is perfect – and your body can be confused by hot and spicy food.

The secret to a good night’s sleep is something that many struggle to find. Though many things can influence the quality of your sleep, finding the right things to eat may be the first step to waking refreshed.