What foods can affect your sleep and cause insomnia?
Certain foods can disrupt your sleep patterns, affecting your sleep and making it harder to get the rest you need. So, which foods affect sleep? In this article, we'll explore some of the worst offenders when it comes to foods that affect sleep.
When you have insomnia, you will find it hard to fall asleep and also struggle to stay asleep. Lack of sleep then makes you feel tired during the day and can make it hard to concentrate and focus. This impacts your life by affecting your mood, resilience, and immunity. All of which can lead to other health problems and diseases. While there are many potential causes of insomnia, diet may be one of them.
Caffeinated beverages
Caffeine is a naturally occurring psychoactive compound found in coffee, tea, and energy drinks. Because caffeine is a stimulant, it can make it difficult to fall asleep in the first place. More significantly, it tends to wake you up during the night. It also acts as a diuretic, which means it increases the need to urinate. This also contributes to waking you up during the night, which is the last thing you need if you struggle to sleep due to insomnia. Caffeine takes several hours to be broken down and eliminated from your body, so it is best not to consume it after midday.
Caffeine and anxiety
Something else worth considering is the link between caffeine and anxiety. Caffeine acts on the central nervous system, and while many people experience a temporary boost of energy after drinking coffee or another caffeinated beverage, others may feel jittery and restless. This is because excessive caffeine intake can lead to even higher levels of anxiety, which in turn can trigger insomnia.
Sleeplessness and anxiety cycle
Studies have shown that people who struggle with chronic anxiety often exhibit symptoms of insomnia, including difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep throughout the night. These issues can continue to fuel each other, creating a cycle of caffeine-induced anxiety that leads to ongoing sleep loss.
Ultimately, individuals with anxiety need to be mindful of their caffeine intake to minimise the risk of additional sleep struggles. Something worth noting is that women tend to drink slightly less coffee than men. However, it causes their blood pressure to rise more than their male counterparts. This link between high blood pressure and insomnia is another reason to ditch the caffeine.
Caffeinated Foods
I'm willing to bet that you didn't realise that some foods contain caffeine. Foods that contain cocoa or chocolate (especially dark chocolate) also contain caffeine. This is due to the presence of a related chemical called theobromine. Additionally, many over-the-counter pain medications also contain caffeine as an active ingredient. If you suffer from insomnia, it may be better to take this before midday. Then stick to medication without caffeine for the rest of the day. While moderate caffeine consumption offers various health benefits, it is still essential to stay mindful of your total daily intake. This helps to avoid negative side effects like anxiety or sleep disruption. That cup of cocoa at night might be worth skipping and opting for a malted milk drink instead.
Genetics and caffeine
Something that may not occur to you is the idea that our genes can impact the way that we respond to caffeine. Biological variations in specific genes can significantly influence how even a small dose of caffeine affects your sleep. The influence of your genes on your response to caffeine is quite significant and cannot be ignored. Do you have trouble getting good sleep even after consuming just a small amount of caffeine? If that’s the case, you may want to find out whether your genes make you respond differently from others.
Keep in mind that poor sleep may tempt you to reach for coffee or energy drinks to stay awake and focused during the day. Unfortunately, this will have a counterintuitive effect, disrupting your night-time sleep. If you're struggling with insomnia, it's best to avoid caffeine in the evening or maybe completely.
Spicy foods
While there is no direct link between spicy foods and insomnia, they can indirectly lead to sleep problems. This is because they can cause heartburn and indigestion, both of which are associated with difficulty falling asleep.
If you are already suffering from heartburn and indigestion, lying down will make it worse. This is because stomach acid can creep up into the throat, and on its way, it burns the delicate lining of the tube linking the stomach to the throat (oesophagus). Strangely, eating spicy foods, such as those flavoured with ginger, chilli or pepper, raises the body's temperature. Good sleep hygiene protocols recommend that lower temperatures are conducive to quality sleep, so if you suffer from insomnia, anything that raises your temperature is a no-no!
Spicy food and nightmares
There is anecdotal evidence that spicy foods affect sleep. This evidence suggests they can lead to nightmares and bizarre dreams. There is no scientific evidence to support this claim. However, there is evidence to show that high temperatures, such as fever, can induce these upsetting images while you are asleep. Although this is a tenuous connection, there may be some truth to it. If you enjoy spicy food and are experiencing disturbing dreams that disrupt your sleep, take note!
With all that said, if you struggle with insomnia, it may be worth trying to avoid spicy food within three hours of turning in for the night.
Fatty foods
Picture the scene: you have had a great night out, the bars are all emptying, and you hit the chip shop. While those chips and a greasy kebab may sound appealing, especially when your senses are dulled with alcohol, is it a good idea to eat such a high-fat meal so close to bedtime? As with spicy foods, meals high in fat, especially saturated fat, can make it hard to sleep.
When you go to bed, the digestive system slows down. Your body is built to digest food during the day, not at night. Therefore, a lack of enzymes and slow digestion during the evening and night can lead to indigestion. This is compounded by lying down, as gravity isn't helping the food travel through your gut. Eating high-fat foods close to bedtime can affect your sleep because they keep you awake or cause discomfort in your stomach and gut, leading to wakefulness.
Eating fatty foods close to bedtime affects both your sleep quality and how quickly you fall asleep. Unfortunately, this is worse if you happen to be a woman!
One study has also suggested that the metabolism of fatty foods reduces the signal for melatonin (the sleep hormone) to be released. This is a highly complex biological process involving the enzyme EIF2α that occurs inside cells. If you suffer from insomnia, take this as your cue: avoid fatty foods close to bedtime, or better yet, cut them out completely.
Sugar
During the night, we don't tend to eat, or at least we shouldn't. This gives our digestive system a chance to repair and rest. Enzymes and hormones that have been used for digestion during the day are broken down and eliminated. This helps to reset your gut for a fresh start the next day.
Avoid sugary foods in the evening
Most people have a store of fat, providing enough energy for the body to sustain itself for a few hours without food. However, if we eat a high-sugar or high-glycemic meal in the evening, it can cause a temporary energy boost and leave us feeling wired.
The rapid release of sugar into the bloodstream, closely followed by a subsequent crash, can leave us feeling hungry. That can make it difficult to sleep. Going to bed hungry is not what you want, especially if you suffer from insomnia. The urge to eat something else will compound the problem with undigested food in the gut at bedtime. This leads to indigestion and heartburn, as explained in the section on foods high in fat.
Many people have a hot milky drink before bed. If you do that, avoid adding sugar as research links it to shorter sleep duration. Eating sugary foods before bed can lead to disturbed sleep, often accompanied by bad dreams or nightmares. If you want sweet dreams, avoid sugar before bedtime.
If you struggle to sleep, it may not have occurred to you that the food you eat can affect your sleep. While other foods can cause insomnia, caffeine, fat, sugar, and certain spices are the primary culprits. You now know which foods affect sleep. Hopefully, struggling with insomnia will no longer be a problem.
For more information on improving sleep, you may find this article helpful.
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The content on Jane Stevens Nutrition is for educational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, lifestyle, or supplement routine. Use of this information is at your own risk. Jane Stevens Nutrition is not liable for any outcomes resulting from your use of this site. Full medical disclaimer here
