Foods That Hamper or Affect Your Sleep

Adequate sleep is essential for all to sustain a healthy body and mind. While there are many ways to get a good night’s sleep on daily basis; there an equal number of lifestyle and dietary habits that can hamper your sleep. Much is written about the lifestyle changes to improve your sleep however this article aims to enlighten about the various foods that hamper your sleep.

Being aware of foods that affect your sleep can help you in planning a healthy diet for better health. Here are some foods that can hamper or affect your sleep.

Caffeine is definitely one of the most well-known foods that hamper or affect your sleep. While the caffeine content in coffee has been put to good use by workers to combat fatigue and drowsiness during working hours; the same caffeine intake can hamper sleep when one is ready to get a good night’s rest. This is primarily a problem for people who drink coffee a short while before retiring for the day and for those taking excess of coffee during the day. Most importantly, it is not just caffeine in coffee but also in aerated drinks, which are one of the worst foods that can hamper or affects your sleep.

Tomatoes and tomato ketchup that may often find their way onto your dinner plate and be one of the foods that hamper your sleep. This is mainly due to the acidic properties in them that can unsettle your stomach. Tomato ketchup is a double blow to sleep as the preservatives in tomato ketchup are also acidic in nature and prove to be further digestive irritants. Too much ketchup and tomato intake can also cause heartburn and particularly post dinner, which can further affect your digestion and sleep.

Whether you call pizza, hot wings, grilled cuisine and barbecued meats junk food or not; such foods with extremely high oil and spices that may interfere with your ability to get a good night’s rest. While such foods can add to excess calories and when eaten at night can result in heartburn and indigestion and are definitely one of the foods that hamper or affects your sleep.

Bread or burgers for starters; is difficult for the digestive system to process and when combined with mayo, cheese and butter; is simply a lot for your digestive system to handle. Many people turn to burgers and sandwiches as a late night snack but unfortunately these are one of the foods that hamper your sleep.

Raw onions often serve as a condiment along with supper; especially in cultures where spicy food is the norm. Onions when eaten in raw form; can result in gas and bloating which is a can make proper sleep quite difficult. Gas and bloating often keeps people awake at night, hence such foods can hamper your sleep. A simple change in your diet and the elimination of foods like raw onions can help improve your digestion and your sleep.

While protein in the form of red meats can be eaten in moderation at anytime of the day; protein and red meats in excess at dinner time may affect your sleep. This is largely because excess red meat consumption can result in acid reflux and indigestion; keeping one up for most of the night.

Many individuals drink plenty of fluids for various health benefits. While this is a great habit and can result in better hydration and digestion; what goes in must be processed and come out. This simply means excess water intake will result in excessive urination and waking up during the night to urinate is definitely not conducive to restful sleep. While water is essential, excessive consumption at night can make water to be included in the list of foods that hamper or affects your sleep.

Different cultures around the world have different kinds of cuisine and spicy oily cuisine is just the usual for many cultures. Unfortunately; spicy and oily food can have a negative impact on your digestive system and such they certainly offer foods that hamper your sleep. Keep dinner light and largely oil free to enjoy better sleep.

While these are just some foods that hamper or affect your sleep, there may be more that affect you in particular. Limiting such foods and making small changes to your dietary habits can vastly improve sleep patterns. It is important to include healthy lifestyle practices, exercise during the day and relax before bedtime for improved sleep.

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