Should I Eat Before Bed?
We're just going to come right out and say it:
Yes, you can eat before bed.
Let's hear it for the late-night snack!
But before your run over to your kitchen and start digging around for that bag of popcorn or carton of ice cream, let's talk through a few things first.
The Rules For Eating Before Bed
Ugh, rules? 😩
While it's usually fine to curb your pre-slumber hunger, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Instead of thinking of these as rules, treat them as another tool you have at your disposal for getting the best sleep possible.
- You can have a snack, not a meal.
It's important to avoid any large meals within 3 hours of when you plan to fall asleep. Eating a heavy dinner too close to bedtime can cause indigestion and reflux - two things that really don't jive well with rest.
2. Assess how you're feeling before you eat
You'll need to be a little flexible with snacking as a part of your bedtime routine. There are going to be some days when it's more important you don't eat before bed and vice versa. For instance, if your stomach isn't feeling so hot or you're just not hungry, take those as signals that you don't need a midnight snack.
If, on the other hand, you haven't eaten in a while and your stomach is grumbling - be sure to grab a little something. Hunger can disturb your sleep as easily as overindulgence can.
Now, let's talk about which foods are beneficial for sleep and those that aren't.
Save These Foods For Another Time
While we're big fans of the foods listed here, they just aren't great before bed due to caffeine, sugar, high fiber, and other components that keep you up. Some of these are even super healthy foods, but they contain high water content which can have you getting up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Save these for earlier in the day:
🍫 Chocolate
🧀 High-fat cheese
🥓 Preserved meats (bacon, ham, pepperoni)
🥘 Curry
🌶 Hot sauce
🌭 Mustard
🍦Ice cream
🍩 Sweets
🥠 Chips
🥜 Salted nuts
🥃 Alcohol
🫖 Caffeinated tea or coffee
🥤 Soda
🧃Citrus juice
🍟 Fried foods
🍉Watermelon
🥒 Cucumber or celery
🍅 Tomatoes or tomato sauce
🍓Dried fruit
🫔 Beans
🥦 Certain veggies, including broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts or eggplant
Go Ahead And Grab These
And now for the best part - the foods that can actually help you sleep.
These foods contain components like melatonin, magnesium, and tryptophan which have been shown to increase drowsiness. Others have been shown to increase serotonin which can help you relax.
Try snacking on one of these before you head to bed:
🌰 Unsalted almonds, walnuts, cashews, or pistachios
🍗 Turkey
🥝 Kiwi
🍒 Tart cherries
🥛Milk and warm milk
☕️ Chamomile tea
🥣 Plain yogurt or low-fat cottage cheese
🍌 Bananas
🍚 Rice or oatmeal
🌾 Whole grains
🥜 Peanut butter (where peanuts are the only ingredient)
Bonus: Make note of any bedtime snacks you eat and at what time you eat them in your sleep journal. This will help you find out which foods keep you up and which are harmless for your sleep.