Snacking on the wrong foods will disrupt your sleep while also adding a lot of unnecessary calories to your day. Whilst rummaging through your fridge tonight, make sure you avoid these five foods:
Dark chocolate
Although the healthiest form of chocolate from an antioxidant perspective, dark chocolate can contain relatively high levels of caffeine that can keep you up at night if you’re sensitive. It also contains theobromine, a compound that has caffeine-like effects.
Spicy foods
Eating spicy foods before bed can give you indigestion that makes it almost impossible to get a good night’s sleep. Even if you can eat spicy foods without discomfort, they’re still linked with more time spent away during the night and taking longer to fall asleep. Studies suggest it’s because of capsaicin, an active ingredient in chilli peppers, affecting sleep via changes in body temperature.
Wine
While a glass or two might make you sleepy, alcohol actually disrupts your natural sleep patterns. Not only does alcohol have dehydrating effects, it can also have a negative impact on repairing muscle growth and restoring energy levels whilst you’re sleeping.
Canned soup
Although a popular choice for a quick, late night dinner when you’re hungry, canned soups can be full of sodium and other artificial ingredients. Ingesting lots of salt can make it more difficult to fall asleep, with high chances you’ll wake up dehydrated and feeling sluggish.
Ice-cream
Ice-cream and other sugary desserts will make blood sugar levels soar…and then drop rapidly. Depending on the flavour of ice-cream you choose, chocolate or coffee may also be an ingredient. Both contain caffeine which will rev you up when you need to slow down.
