Want Better Sleep? Avoid Consuming These Things at Night
Are you finding it difficult to sleep at night? Are you waking up overly tired? You may be consuming something before bed that is hindering your sleep. Lack of sleep can cause many different health issues and can negatively impact your life and those around you. Focusing on getting better sleep each night should be a priority of yours. While you have the common external factors such as bright lights, noise, and the temperature of your bedroom, there are actually other factors such as the things you consume that can hinder your ability to get quality rest. This article is going to lay out some of the things you should avoid consuming before bed to give you the best chance of better sleep.
Large Meals
To kick things off, we actually have an extreme on both ends of the spectrum. Not only can large meals hinder your sleep, but going to bed hungry (in a severe caloric deficit) also negatively affects your sleep. If you want better sleep, you need to find a happy medium.
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When you consume large meals before bed, it can cause you some discomfort due to bloating and distention. Having a large meal in your stomach will most certainly cause your body to start the digestion process which will cause an increase in body temperature. This increase in temperature can be enough to alter your sleep cycle. Additionally, it can cause you to feel restless and keep you awake. To combat this, try working the bulk of your calories and meals earlier in the day.
On the flip side, dropping your calories too low and creating a sense of hunger can also cause you to have a poor night’s sleep. If you’ve ever tried cutting your calories, you have probably been in the situation where you wake up in the middle of the night hungry and starving.
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If you want to get better sleep, you should focus on cutting your calories slowly – around 250-500 each day rather than going to the extreme and crash-dieting.
Caffeine
It should go without saying that anything with caffeine is probably a bad idea to consume late at night before bed. This can be anything from a pre-workout, coffee, caffeinated beverages like soda or tea, and energy drinks. Caffeine will cause you to feel energized due to the stimulant properties and will not allow you to properly relax and unwind to get restful sleep. If your adrenals are fatigued, the effects of caffeine might not affect you, but that is a very specific situation and not one that many will be in.
Caffeine can stay in your system for upwards of seven hours. Consuming it late at night can completely disrupt your sleep the entire night until it wears off and you start feeling tired and fatigued. If you want better sleep, try to skip the caffeine after 2pm to give your body enough time to let the effects of caffeine subside (maybe even earlier if you are sensitive to stimulants).
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