10 Things You Should Never Eat Before Bed

There are three commonly referred to elements that people account for in their immediate external environments when it comes to fully optimizing their sleep. These include light, temperature, and noise. However, there’s an especially crucial element that oftentimes gets left out of the conversation, and that's food.

Yes, there are particular foods that you should avoid before you’re about to turn in for bed. We’ll take a look at the biggest no-no foods before bedtime.

While chocolate is a wondrous indulgence and one cherished by many when they find themselves possessed by those maddening sweets cravings at nighttime, the sugar that’s packed into chocolate can be significantly detrimental to your quality of sleep. A study that was published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine actually discovered that participants who consumed more sugar as well as saturated fats would experience far less deep sleep and to make matters worse, wake up throughout the course of a night. 

Some chocolates even contain caffeine, which should really be avoided before bedtime unless you’re one of those superhuman that can casually sip on a pot of coffee before you turn the lights out for the night.

We get it. Sometimes the craving is inescapable for a sumptuous bacon cheeseburger. However, you’ll want to avoid this food at all costs before bed. The riskiest element in this meal when it comes to jeopardizing the quality of your sleep is the high-fat content. 

This can catalyze the production of acid in your stomach, and then lead to one of the worst thieves of sleep, which is acid reflux. If you know you know. Not exactly the most pleasant experience waking up with it feeling like there’s been a mini bonfire started within your chest and/or stomach area. 

Related: Nauseated? Here Are Trader Joe's Top 5 Ginger Items to Soothe Your Stomach

Chicken or really any type of protein when consumed on its own can require a lot of energy during the digestion process, which can definitely throw your sleep schedule off its rhythm. Tyrosine, an amino acid in protein which does promote brain activity, is obviously not the ideal thing to eat before you need your brain to quiet down for bedtime. 

So, instead opt for a snack that includes one serving of protein as well as one serving of carbs to work to keep your blood sugar levels stabilized, and ultimately make it that much less likely that you wake throughout the night.

Yes, yes, pizza, a true and well-deserved staple of the late night feast mode activities. There's absolutely nothing wrong with loving pizza. Unfortunately, it’s still not the ideal option, even if the pizza is so delicious that you find yourself already having consumed an entire box somehow sometime after you took your first unassuming bite. 

This is because cheese is packed with fat and then the tomato sauce is acidic. In general, doctors recommend that you make your lunchtime meals the biggest meals of your day, and then stop with eating at least three hours before bedtime.

While it’s nice and on occasion entirely reasonable to enjoy a nice dessert after you’ve had your dinner, ice cream isn’t the best of choices for optimal sleep. Dairy often has a lot of fat, and even those low-fat ice creams can end up being very high in sugar. 

This isn’t just because the dairy in the actual milk isn’t the most agreeable with clocking restful nights of sleep, but it’s also because of the sugar in the cereal, which spikes your blood sugar and then throws off your body’s fat storage for as long as an entire night. 

Sugar won’t only throw your sleep cycle out of wack, but research that’s been published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has proven that when we’re sleep deprived we are far more prone toward eating more junk food. 

Related: Finding the Sweet Spot: I Banned Sugar From My Diet for a Week and Here's What Happened

This might seem like it’s counterintuitive, as celery is green and surrounded by its healthy compatriots, but celery is actually a natural diuretic. This means that it will ultimately push water through your system, and this naturally can lead to many unwanted visits to the bathroom throughout the course of a night. 

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While a large bowl of pasta can absolutely hit the spot after a long and tiring day, it’s also made up of many, many carbs, which much like sugar will activate your body’s fat “storage”system, and then cause it to run throughout the night. This is why whole-wheat pastas can end up being a much better option, as they’re made up of complex carbs that are significantly higher in fiber and also won’t elevate your blood sugar levels. 

This one might be the most common sense item on the list. Spices like that of cayenne can increase your body’s blood flow as well as your body’s temperature, which is the literal opposite of what you need to happen when you’re sleepily reaching out for a restful night’s sleep. Plus, there are even folks out there who have reported that especially spicy foods have gone on to throw their minds into truly crazy dream realms when they do actually pass out. 

That said, spicy foods can be good for your health, just try to steer clear of them before bed.

Okay, obviously these aren’t solid foods, but they’re both culprits when it comes to impeding your ability to get a good night’s sleep. Coffee will keep most fold out there bright-eyed, wide awake, and full of wonder in large thanks to its caffeinated nature. Meanwhile, alcohol can entirely prevent your ability to attain a restorative deep REM sleep. As a final note, alcohol can even exacerbate existing sleep conditions like sleep apnea.