Whether it was last night or two days ago, you probably have an experience of having a hard time falling asleep because of hunger. There must have been times you just closed your eyes to disregard your stomach’s claim, but also times when you ultimately surrendered and searched the shelves and refrigerator to hunt for food. Most of you know that eating late at night is not good for your health, but hunger overpowers guilt most of the times. Below are foods that will hinder your sleep that you should at least try to avoid when you do succumb to hunger.
1. Meat
If you are not a vegetarian, you will probably wake up in the
middle of the night at the smell of your roommate grilling steak. However, you should avoid consuming meat before you go to sleep because meat take a long time to digest — definitely not before you fall asleep.
2. Vegetables
Many of you probably comforted your hunger by eating greens and patted yourselves on the back on your selection. Although vegetables are healthy for you, it is not great to eat it right before you go to sleep. Most vegetables contain great amounts of carbohydrates that take long to digest. Thus, it will disrupt your sleep and make you late for work the next day.
3. Cereal
Although cereal is a good quick meal for breakfast, it does not make a very good late night snack because cereal usually contains high levels of sugar and carbohydrates.
4. Chocolate
Chocolate is on the “to avoid” list not only because of sugar. On top of sugar, chocolate contains a lot of caffeine. According to the FDA, 28g of dark chocolate contains about 20mgs of caffeine, and 30g of milk chocolate contains 16g. That is, if you eat a piece of dark chocolate that is about 35g, it is just like drinking a cup of coffee in terms of caffeine intake. If you avoid coffee at night because you are weak to caffeine, you should also avoid chocolate.
5. Alcohol
There are people that claim that they sleep better with a glass of
beer or wine. However, this is just a coincidence. We gain energy for the next day during the sleeping process, but alcohol interferes in the process.
Original document available at http://club.koreadaily.com/cafe_board/content.asp?idx=425225&table=1009_cafe_201469231255&c_idx=1009
Translated by Sooahn Ko