Photo by Mike Sheard.
Because I've been having a little trouble with insomnia, I am writing one post a month on the topic. By so doing, I hope to gain better control over my sleep habits.Lately I have been paying closer attention to foods and beverages that contribute to insomnia.
Often this is a matter of quantity and timing of "neutral" foods and drinks.
However, there are certainly some items that have inherent quality of alertness.
Caffeine. The biggest insomnia culprit is probably caffeine. It's the most obvious to people as well. Nevertheless, people can mismanage their caffeine intake. The time necessary for caffeine to leave your system varies. Estimates range from 4 to 6 hours on one end of the spectrum and up to 14 hours on the other end.
How caffeine affects you will depend on the quantity of caffeine you ingest, the degree to which you are acclimated to caffeine and the rate of your metabolism. People who consume a lot of caffeine might fall asleep, but still fail to achieve deep, REM stage sleep.
Be aware of the many places where caffeine may be present: coffee, tea, soda, energy drinks, soda, desserts and even some medications. Read all labels for everything you eat and drink. Be informed.
Additionally, caffeine works as a diuretic, meaning that it pushes water out of the body. Consuming caffeine results in more trips to the bathroom.
Chocolate. Yes, this contains caffeine but also other stimulants such as theobromine and almost always paired with sugar, another stimulant. I've found that I can't eat chocolate later than about 4 pm; otherwise, I have trouble sleeping. Chocolate is also on the list of foods that can cause irregular heartbeats.
Hard-to-Digest Foods. Spicy? Gassy? Fatty? or Fiber rich? Water rich? Full of Protein? Each of these foods are hard to digest and can lead to indigestion or fitful sleep. For example, peppers are spicy, cabbage is gassy, French fries are fatty, beans are fiber rich, melon is water rich, and a 12 oz steak is packed with hard-to-digest protein. Sleep inducing--these are not.
Roller Coaster Sugar Levels. Because I am hypoglycemic, I am particularly sensitive to how blood sugar levels can affect my sleep. To a certain extent, this is true for all people. Eating foods high in sugar right before bed can cause blood sugar to soar and then crash.
If I forget to eat a balanced bedtime snack (with good ratios of carbs-protein-fat), then I wake up after about three hours because my blood sugar drops, which leads to an agitated state.
(Add to this the effect of stress-related hormones (adrenalin and cortisol) that consume blood sugar, it can be hard to balance blood sugar levels. See the post on emotional causes for insomnia.)
Heavy meals. Even very well balanced healthy meals can lead to insomnia if they are eaten too close to bedtime.
Too much liquid before bed. While it's important to be well hydrated, drinking too many liquids before bedtime can result in frequent trips to the bathroom during the night.
Other. While poking around, I've seen other insomnia-inducing culprits listed such as MSG, aspartame, food additives, artificial coloring, and cheese. But the research for these isn't as solid.
If you are having trouble sleeping, I recommend keeping a food-and-sleep journal for a couple of weeks. You might see patterns emerge if you do this.
I find that I have to constantly monitor what I eat and drink in order to improve the quality of my sleep. I make fewer gross errors these days. For example, I am a slightly built (111 pounds) hypoglycemic who is highly sensitive to caffeine.
The worse thing I can do is eat a light dinner at 5 pm and then a huge, dark chocolate bar at 9 pm. I did that. Once. I didn't fall asleep until 4 am.
Now I'm just fine tuning. Next month I will write about foods that help induce sleep. It's a happy coincidence that I'll write this in November, the month where people most often use the word "tryptophan."
Related:
Multiple Causes for Insomnia
Emotional Causes for Insomnia
