By Julia Ries | Fact-checked by Davi Sherman
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Certain foods like chocolate, greasy snacks, and spicy dishes can disrupt sleep due to their effects on digestion and caffeine content.
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Greasy and fatty foods slow digestion and can lead to discomfort or acid reflux, disrupting sleep, especially for those with GERD.
If you’re having trouble drifting off at night, look no further than what’s on your dinner plate. Research shows that what you eat in the hours leading up to your bedtime can significantly impact the quality of your sleep.[1][2] That’s because all food contains tons of chemical compounds that affect your body in some way, shape, or form.[3]
Eating a high-protein diet that’s rich in amino acids and antioxidants, for example, can help you snooze through the night, research suggests.[4] But some foods, like chocolate, citrus fruits, and greasy snacks, can have the opposite effect and cause you to toss and turn.
MDLinx spoke with two dietitians and one sleep doctor to get the lowdown on six foods that are worth skipping a few hours before you hit the hay. Here’s what they said:
Chocolate
A small amount of chocolate shouldn’t prevent you from dozing off, but too much could keep you awake and alert. That’s because chocolate contains caffeine, Liz Weinandy, MPH, RDN, LD, a registered dietitian with The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, tells MDLinx. “For many people, this may not affect sleep much, but for people who metabolize caffeine slower, it can make it harder to fall asleep and more difficult to get into a deep sleep,” Weinandy says.
Greasy and high-fat snacks
Greasy, high-fat foods, such as cheeseburgers and fries, can also get in the way of a good night’s sleep if consumed a few hours before bed. According to Weinandy, it takes a long time (sometimes up to 6 hours!) for your stomach to digest greasy foods. “This delayed emptying of food out of the stomach can disrupt sleep and, worse yet, cause reflux when one lies down to sleep,” she says.
These foods won’t impair everyone’s sleep, says Weinandy, but if you deal with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a digestive disorder in which stomach contents flow back into the esophagus, or have trouble falling asleep, consider saving the fries for lunch……