You can't eat at night. And yet - what can you eat at night? A cup of warm milk with a small oatmeal cookie

Almost everyone begins to experience terrible hunger as night falls. This is especially true for those who watch their figure and are on a diet. Having held on all day proper nutrition, in the evening you begin to experience pangs of hunger that literally do not allow you to fall asleep. What to do in this case, and what can you eat at night so as not to harm your figure?

Eat or starve?

Dietitians have differing opinions about evening meals. Some say that the time of dinner should depend on the time when man walking sleep, others believe that in any case the last meal should be no later than 6 pm. In any case, it is recommended to have dinner 2-3 hours before bedtime, since the body needs to sleep at night.

Everything occurring in the body physiological processes slow down at night, and therefore food eaten at night lies in the stomach as dead weight. The food begins to rot, and the poor stomach is forced to digest it in the morning. It is difficult for him to cope with this, so toxins begin to enter our body. As a result, immunity decreases, an unhealthy complexion appears, and hair becomes dull and brittle. In addition, the calories produced are not burned, but are stored as fat on the hips and belly.

However, the evening You can’t put your body on a severe hunger strike either.. If you eat your last meal at 6 pm, then until about 7 am the body remains without food. Big breaks in food are stress, during which the body begins to create reserves in the form of fat deposits. At this time, the enzyme lipoprotein lipase is activated, which sends fatty acids to the fatty tissue located under the skin.

To prevent your body from asking you to replenish your energy supply at 2 a.m., it is recommended to have a snack three hours before bedtime. If you want to eat just before bed, then you should choose foods with a negative calorie content. That is, those that require more energy for their digestion than they produce themselves.

Negative calorie foods

These products include mainly vegetables and fruits, as well as low-fat kefir and flounder.

Beet. Salad of this vegetable, seasoned vegetable oil, will contain a minimum of calories. In addition, beets contain curacamine and betaine, which promote weight loss. The pectin contained in the vegetable cleanses the body of waste and toxins, regulates the intestinal flora, thereby normalizing intestinal function.

Celery. Without harming your figure, you can eat a celery root, which contains only a dozen calories. You can make it out of it fresh or light salad with carrots. Celery is rich in fiber and is a diuretic that eliminates excess liquid. Therefore, it is not recommended to eat a lot of it at night. In addition, it is contraindicated during pregnancy and breastfeeding, with varicose veins and certain stomach diseases.

Citrus. One orange or tangerine fruit contains no more than 40 kcal. Citrus fruits are rich in vitamin C and fiber; they can normalize digestion, so they are allowed to be eaten before bed. However, if you have stomach diseases, it is better to avoid tangerines and oranges.

Apples. These fruits play an important role in weight loss, reduce cholesterol, normalize the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, and contain approximately 10% daily value fibers. Kelly Osborne, who eats half an apple before bed every day, believes that, along with his diet, it was apples that helped him lose weight. But, if you have stomach problems, then this fruit is contraindicated for you, as it increases gas formation.

Bananas. 100 g of banana contains about 90 kcal, however, one fruit before bed will definitely not harm your figure. Australian scientists have proven that bananas help improve sleep, and a cocktail of them can relieve snoring. They contain the amino acid tryptophan, which produces the hormone of joy and has a beneficial effect on nervous system and helps you fall asleep.

Kefir. The calcium-rich drink is a natural sedative, so nutritionists recommend drinking it as a prophylactic for insomnia. The relaxing effect occurs due to the small percentage of alcohol that is part of kefir. In addition, the drink has a beneficial effect on intestinal function, as it is easily digestible product. But you shouldn’t overuse kefir if you have increased acidity stomach.

Flounder. Per 100 g of this fish there are only 83 kcal and very little fat. But its amino acid composition is well balanced and it is rich in proteins, vitamins E and A, phosphorus, iron, sodium, nicotinic acid, potassium, thiamine, riboflavin. So a little flounder at night will not only not harm, but will also saturate the body with useful components.

All these low calorie foods V small quantity can be consumed before bedtime. But what if you want to eat something more substantial?

What can you eat before bed?

In some cases, just drinking a glass is enough to satisfy your hunger warm water, green tea or chamomile tea. An infusion of rose hips will definitely suppress your appetite, which is also healthy. For your nightly meal you can eat:

What should you not eat before bed?

Basic principles healthy eating Almost everyone knows, so you don’t have to talk about foods that are prohibited at night for a long time. It is not recommended to eat before going to bed:

  1. Deep-fried, smoked and fried foods. You should not even eat fried vegetables and fruits at night. Such food is too heavy for the stomach, so it may not be digested until the morning.
  2. Fatty meat and fish are also heavy foods for the stomach, so nutritionists strictly prohibit consuming them before bed.
  3. Any quickly prepared food, which includes dumplings, hamburgers, and sausages, is contraindicated at night.
  4. Mushrooms and cottage cheese are rich in protein, which is digested very slowly. Therefore, they are considered heavy food.
  5. Any foods with seasonings and garlic stimulate the appetite. As a result, you will eat more than you wanted. Therefore, it is best to make snacks with lean foods.
  6. Canned, pickled and salted foods are prohibited overnight.
  7. Simple carbohydrates in the form of jam, condensed milk, sweets, cakes, ice cream and pastries should absolutely not be eaten before bedtime. You can’t get enough of them for a long time, but you can sharply increase your blood sugar levels. These foods, which are useless for satiation, have a bad effect on your figure and can cause the development of diabetes.

In addition to not eating at night, you need to remember that before going to bed It is undesirable to drink certain drinks:

  • sweet fruit drinks, jelly, teas, lemonades;
  • carbonated drinks;
  • strong coffee and tea;
  • alcohol;
  • juices that contain a lot of sugar.

In order for the desire to eat to disappear at night, you need to understand the reasons why you really want to eat before going to bed.

Gastrointestinal diseases

Some people are tormented by this severe hunger, which even causes pain in the pit of the stomach. After eating, the pain stops. The reason for this may be gastritis or peptic ulcer.

Without realizing it, people satisfy their hunger with foods containing low acidity, which include porridge, milk, White bread, kefir. After eating, a person falls asleep calmly, but the main problem is not solved. In this case, you need to consult a doctor.

Stressful conditions

Quite often, when people are stressed, they eat a lot, thereby relieving nervous tension. Because in life stressful situations a lot, set excess weight guaranteed.

An unpleasant situation can arise at any time of the day, including shortly before bedtime. Most often, stress is consumed by foods with a strong taste. It could be cake or smoked sausage . To understand whether night snacks are an antidepressant for you, see if you want to eat at night, if there are no stressful situations.

Malnutrition during the day

The most common cause of night hunger is eating insufficient food during the day. Many people think that a small sandwich and coffee in the morning is a normal breakfast. At lunchtime there is often no time to eat at all or you have to eat food on the go. As a result, severe hunger sets in in the evening, but one meal for dinner is not enough. Before going to bed, you may want to eat again.

Therefore, it is necessary to eat well throughout the day. Then in the evening the feeling of hunger will not worsen, and you you won't overeat at night. The worst thing is if the wrong diet becomes a habit. The only way to control hunger is by not skipping meals.

Nighttime gluttony leads not only to fat deposition and excess weight, but also to varicose veins, hypertension, diabetes mellitus. Therefore, if you want to be healthy, slim and look good, follow the recommendations written above.

There are many opinions about how many hours before bed you can eat. People are confused about this concept because there is a difference of opinion. Some nutritionists say that dinner should be no later than 6-7 pm, and there are also studies that the last meal should be 4 hours before bedtime. And if you have to go to bed at 1 am, then what opinion should you follow?

Should you eat before bed?

First, you need to figure out whether you can eat before bed. The fact is that digestion processes slow down during sleep and food eaten at night does not have time to be digested. For this reason, stomach diseases, dysbacteriosis develop and immunity deteriorates and, as a result, excess weight appears. But gaining an extra kilo is not the worst thing that can happen.

Disruption hormonal system leads to the emergence of such serious illnesses, such as atherosclerosis, osteochondrosis, hypertension with subsequent strokes, etc. Depression, psychosis and others nervous disorders- this is a consequence of eating at night.

Experts note that while sleeping on an empty stomach, the body launches a rejuvenation mechanism, and if there is food in front of it, the level of sex hormone and stress hormone increases. This leads to accelerated aging of the body.

Best time for dinner

It is advisable to have dinner before 18:00 if bedtime occurs between 20:00 and 21:00. Otherwise, between the last and first (morning) meals there will be a very big break. And this provokes fluctuations in sugar and insulin levels, which leads to a great feeling of hunger, and subsequently to overeating.

Light dinner

Gastroenterologists and pediatricians, discussing how many hours before bedtime you can eat, came to the conclusion that patients with diseases digestive system and children under 14 years old should not go to bed hungry. In this case, nutritionists suggest eating low-calorie foods. If we talk about lungs, these include boiled chicken with vegetables, baked fish with salad, and cottage cheese.

Therefore, everyone else, except the above-mentioned categories of people, is not recommended to eat at night. But nutritionists also advise that if you really want to, then an hour before bedtime you can eat light meals: a portion of green salad, vegetable stew, small portion oatmeal on water, a glass of milk or kefir, a couple of apples, plain yogurt, a banana. They will be able to satisfy hunger well and will not harm the body.

This food is not suitable for dinner

But if you still have doubts about whether you should eat at night, then you should always listen to your body.

There are people who allow themselves any errors in nutrition and do not gain excess weight. For those who are prone to obesity, you should eat no later than 3-4 hours before bedtime. During this period of time, the body will digest food and at the same time will not be hungry and will not store fat in reserve. But you should know what foods you should not eat for dinner. These are coffee and other drinks containing caffeine.

And also this and especially French fries, fatty meat, sweet cereals and sweets, spicy, smoked and pickled foods. You should eat protein for dinner light food and avoid carbohydrates.

How many hours before bedtime can you eat? When answering the question, one must take into account the person’s lifestyle, the time of sleep and awakening, what food and in what quantity was consumed during the day. Everything here is calculated individually.

Nutritionist opinion

Previously, we reviewed foods that should not be consumed in the evening. Nutritionists offer recipes for dinners and late-night snacks. It is better to cook pollock, chum salmon, and salmon fillets 2-3 hours before bedtime. The fish must be baked in the oven. Ideal option will fish cutlets or meatballs baked in the oven or steamed.

You can cook mussels or shrimp for dinner. Poultry and lean beef should be cooked with vegetables. 1-2 hours before bedtime, it is useful to eat salads made from fresh herbs, which can be poured with 1 tablespoon linseed oil. It is sold at the pharmacy. Half an hour before bedtime, you are allowed to drink a glass of kefir or eat a little cottage cheese, washing it down with herbal tea.

Athletes' opinions

There is also the opinion of athletes: for those who play sports, what to eat before bed is extremely important, and sometimes even necessary, since a snack will reduce the feeling of hunger and the body will have enough protein for muscle growth. But you need to properly distribute your dinner time. Athletes recommend eating a small, 250 gram, portion of protein food within an hour and a half.

Making dinner healthier

If you have already developed the habit of eating just before going to bed, and in the morning you have to wake up with a feeling of heaviness, fatigue, and bags under the eyes and swelling appear, then you need to gradually moderate your evening appetite. To do this, you need to change your dinner diet - remove high-calorie foods and replace them with lower-calorie foods.

It is important to avoid consumption at night alcoholic drinks, it is preferable to drink water or green tea. It is recommended to use aromatherapy: the smells of fir, vanilla and mint help relieve hunger and promote restful sleep.

Conclusion

Now it’s clear how many hours before bedtime you can eat. Having analyzed the opinions of scientists, doctors, athletes and girls who monitor their figure with great zeal, it was very difficult to come to an unambiguous decision.

But everyone who is concerned about this problem adheres to the rules: you cannot eat immediately before going to bed, it is better to do it an hour and a half before. It is necessary to exclude evening intake and alcohol. Food portions should be small. Then an evening dinner or a small snack will not harm your health.

Uncontrolled intake of foods is unacceptable when it comes to evening (night) meals. Therefore it becomes topical issue what you can and cannot eat before going to bed. Let's consider the current aspects.

Is it possible to eat at night

Before talking about permitted or prohibited foods, you should clarify whether it is even possible to eat at night? The answer is obvious - yes, but only certain products. It is strictly forbidden to consume carbohydrates. They speed up the production of insulin, sending a signal to the brain that it is necessary to burn glucose, not fat.

When it comes to the interval immediately before bed, the answer is no! You can't eat before bed! When the body stops being awake, burning calories and fat stops. During rest, samatropin, or growth hormone, is released, which is responsible for the set muscle mass. During this period, cortisol is not produced, and premature aging of the body begins.

Harm from eating at night

  1. At the first feeling of hunger in evening time The body gives a signal that you need to eat. You should not give in to the first provocations. In this case, tissues save glucose and are forced to process fat layers.
  2. If you go to rest with a slight feeling of hunger, you will not only restore strength and energy, but also actively renew your tissues. cellular level. This process prevents premature aging body.
  3. During wakefulness, such a process is impossible due to stress and food intake. When eating food at night, you should understand that such a move does not bode well. It is also worth remembering that everything is individual.
  4. It is not advisable for children and people under 25 years of age to go to rest on an empty stomach, but it is also prohibited to overeat. The younger a person is, the later he is supposed to eat. Thus, the baby’s body develops according to its own schedule, as it needs.
  5. Elderly people are advised to limit their last meal to 5 hours before going to bed. For dinner, it is better to give preference to protein dishes with kefir and vegetables. Fats and carbohydrates are only needed at lunchtime.
  6. When the body needs food, melatonin is produced. The enzyme helps a person maintain deep sleep and feel refreshed when you wake up. If you eat it at night, melatonin stops being produced.
  7. Often a person experiences problems sleeping. Again, it's worth considering individual characteristics. Some individuals are contraindicated from going to bed with a feeling of hunger. This category includes people suffering from ulcers and gastritis.

What can you eat at night

If you cannot live without eating at night, you can eat a handful of almonds or walnut. Also allowed are half an apple or pear without peel, persimmon small size, whole avocado, slice of melon. You can eat a cucumber, a handful of broccoli, lettuce without restrictions, skim cheese or yogurt.

An omelet for the night is suitable for low-calorie milk from egg whites with spinach or broccoli. Don't fry eggs; the yolks are too high in calories. To add nutritional value and, accordingly, calories, eat half a banana, a boiled potato, a piece of beet, a third of a carrot.

People with healthy stomach Boiled beans will do and that’s it legumes, baked apples with peel, boiled chicken breast, shrimp. Consume seasonal or frozen berries and low-fat kefir without any prohibitions.

What vegetables can you eat at night?

  1. Celery is a negative calorie vegetable. It occupies a leading position among products that can be taken at night. Celery promotes destruction more calories than those contained in it.
  2. Suitable for reception in the evening boiled carrots and beets. You can make a salad by taking half of each fruit. The dish is seasoned with vinegar or low-fat sour cream.
  3. White cabbage and broccoli are suitable for the meal. It is better to add the listed vegetables to a protein omelet not cooked in oil. You can chop 1/3 of a potato or a handful of boiled beans into the salad.

  1. Fruits are considered the main components of the human diet. And it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about food for the night or a weekday meal. Fruits of this type do not negatively affect body weight, so they are recommended to be taken 2-3 hours before bedtime.
  2. Apples occupy the main place. They quickly satisfy the raging feeling of hunger, but provoke increased production of gastric juice. Therefore, you can eat an apple an hour or two after dinner. In addition, the fruits are widely used in dietary nutrition because they speed up weight loss.
  3. Particular attention is paid to citrus fruits. They excite the nervous system, so you should not eat them immediately before bed. Make sure that your nighttime meal occurs 2 hours before going to bed. Preference is given to grapefruits, pomelo, oranges, and tangerines.
  4. If you really want a snack, eat 1 kiwi or half a handful of grapes. 1/3-1/2 banana will also work. Figs do not belong to the category of fruit, they are inflorescences, but 2-3 pieces will not harm your figure.
  5. Also suitable for a night meal are nectarines, peaches, quinces, pears, plums and cherry plums. The main thing is to know moderation in everything. You shouldn’t fill a whole plate; limit yourself to a few pieces.
  6. All of the fruits listed will help you satisfy sudden hunger and maintain a feeling of fullness until the next meal. At the same time, in the morning you will not wake up with a heaviness in your stomach.

What dairy products can you eat at night?

  1. The leading position is given to low-fat kefir. When consumed before bedtime, intestinal motility is normalized. Dairy products have laxative properties, so you cleanse your body of toxins.
  2. Natural thick or liquid yogurt is made from milk. Give preference to Bio Max, Danone, Activia. The main thing is that the percentage of fat content does not exceed 1%.
  3. There are special milkshakes with lactobacilli aimed at weight loss. Skimmed milk is also suitable for taking at night.
  4. To avoid harm to your health, warm the foods you consume to room temperature. Take small sips, if possible through a straw.

What not to eat at night

  1. Caffeinated products. Many people know the special effect of the substance on the body. Drinking coffee or an energy drink before bed will keep you from falling asleep. You should also refrain from drinking tea before bed, especially green tea. Hot drinks can be consumed 2 hours before rest.
  2. Sweet products. If you are trying to keep your figure in good shape, you should completely abstain from sweets, not only before bed. First of all, chocolate is the main enemy on the list of prohibited foods at night. It will provide you with insomnia and greatly invigorate the body. In addition, chocolate significantly increases appetite after digestion.
  3. Fatty food. Such products themselves, regardless of the time of day, carry potential harm body. By eating such food before bed, you doom yourself to development chronic pathologies and gaining extra pounds. Fatty foods slow down metabolism, so even dietary and healthy dishes in this case they will only harm the person.
  4. Spicy dishes. Spicy food significantly increases appetite. In the process, gastric juice is produced. Having had a hearty dinner with a spicy dish, you will soon want to eat again. Such food, in addition to the feeling of hunger, causes heartburn, flatulence and bloating.
  5. Beans and grains. Invaluable benefits Cereals and legumes are beneficial for the body. Products should not be consumed before bed if you have any ailments or contraindications. Beans and grains are rich in fiber; the substance is not fully digested, which is why colic, gastrointestinal upset and flatulence often occur. Cereals are especially contraindicated for consumption at night, as they are rich in carbohydrates.

Food not only satisfies a person’s physical needs, but also gives the body vigor and restores wasted energy. It is known that deliciously prepared dishes improve your mood. For this reason, we can say for sure that food affects the psycho-emotional background.

Video: eating before bed - great harm or benefit

Illiterate nutrition before bed is the first enemy of slimness and a threat to health. But it’s difficult to sleep when you’re hungry, so a light snack is necessary, especially since there are sleep-improving foods that you can use to sleep well even after eating.

Doctors constantly say that eating before bed is... bad habit. There are explanations for this:

  1. At night, digestive processes proceed at a slower pace. If you overeat before going to bed, you should know that a large snack before bed is overweight. There is no benefit to it - the sleeping body will not have time to digest the food, and it will turn into adipose tissue.
  2. Consumption of high-calorie foods, despite late evening, provokes triggering putrefactive processes as a result of their interaction with gastric juice. The product of these processes are toxins. Once in the blood, they cause various chronic diseases. This has a negative impact on the condition of the skin, hair, nails, and even after sleeping with an overloaded stomach, a person does not feel the best.

And if this happened, then what should you do if there were far from the best foods for sleep on the table, and besides, you overate them at night? Heaviness in the stomach and discomfort will not let you sleep; to improve your well-being, you must use one of the following methods:

  1. Go for a walk instead of going to bed. After eating too much, being in the air is beneficial. This will help stimulate digestion and the body will return to normal faster.
  2. Pour a glass mineral water, in which there is no gas, and add a few drops there lemon juice. This technique will improve digestion and you will feel the heaviness go away. The main thing is that it is useful to do this after sleep.
  3. Try chewing coriander, anise or cumin seeds half an hour after the feast and drinking water. In this way, overeating will be easier to bear.
  4. Take some kind of enzyme medicinal product, and if there is nothing at home, then drink a glass of mint decoction.

What can you eat before bed?

Avoid eating altogether in the evening and only drink water instead of eating too much - bad decision, although a person losing weight most often does this. Feelings of hunger, like overeating, cause discomfort and do not contribute to good sleep. You need to have dinner, the only question is how many hours before bedtime you can eat and what to eat before bedtime so as not to suffer after late dinner.

You need to eat your last meal 2-3 hours before heading out for the night. Products for good night should be easy and useful. In order not to starve and lose weight, you can allow yourself a light snack before bed. To do this, you need to choose foods with a negative calorie content; such a meal helps you burn more calories than the food you eat contains.

Foods and their effect on sleep

NameProduct benefitsNotes
Apples with peelThe fibers found in fruits reduce cholesterol and have a beneficial effect on the functioning of housing and communal services.You should not snack on apples if you have stomach problems - eating the fruit at night increases gas formation.
CitrusEach grapefruit, orange, and tangerine contains about 40 kcal. This is something that you can eat before going to bed, but not completely fill yourself up, but allow yourself a few slices.Don't eat citrus fruits if you have acute gastritis or other stomach diseases. A small spoon of honey added to grapefruit juice, will improve the taste.
BananasHelps you fall asleep due to the presence of an amino acid such as tryptophan, which produces the hormone of joy - serotonin. There will be no harm if you eat a little.You can't eat bananas elevated level blood sugar. When you feel hungry at night, take something else.
CeleryOne root contains about 10 calories. Fresh juice or celery salad allowed as a snack will not harm a restful sleep.Contraindicated for pregnant and nursing mothers. This is not something you can eat when a person has varicose veins veins, stomach disease.
Flounder fishThe meat is low-calorie, with a balanced amino acid composition, rich in vitamins and minerals.
KefirThis milk product contains a lot of calcium, which is easily absorbed in the dark. It has a relaxing effect.You should not drink in large quantities, even if you really want to, when the acidity of the stomach is increased.
Beet saladHigh content of betaine, which can burn fat, curcumin, pectin.Not recommended for kidney diseases And acute inflammation Gastrointestinal tract.
MilkIt is useful to drink warmed milk with honey before bed so that you no longer want to eat. It contains substances that promote sleep.A spoonful of honey before bed acts as a sleeping pill.
OatmealRich in silicon and phosphorus.What kind of porridge you can’t eat is sweet porridge.

Knowing that eating before bed is harmful, sometimes you really want to drink a cup of cocoa. There is no point in resisting the desire. A drink containing flavanols can prevent obesity during sleep, which is important when losing weight. The quality of cocoa also affects how many calories are burned. Sweet, instant drinks will only do harm.

To lose weight, it is useful to drink water before dinner. Drinking water before bed will allow you to eat smaller portions.

What should you not eat before bed?

There is a list of what you should absolutely not eat at night.

  • salty;
  • sweet;
  • flour;
  • fatty.

If you do not eat such foods before bed, it is possible fast weight loss provided that you follow a diet consisting of foods that are on the list of what you can eat and not gain weight. If during the day a woman ate everything that was in the refrigerator, without delving into how many calories there were, then it no longer matters whether she ate fatty or sweet foods at night.

What can you do to prevent your child from waking up to eat at night?

For many mothers, the pressing problem is how to wean their baby from feeding at night. This should not be done until 6 months of age, and then, when feeding at night is no longer the norm, but bad habit, you will have to take action.
Before you wean your child from eating at night, you should watch him. If during the day he eats well, gains weight, is healthy, but at night he wakes up at equal intervals, then it’s time to think about how to wean your child off this:

  1. Feed your baby during the day set time, but increase the portions.
  2. Adjust the temperature in the nursery to 18-200. Humidify the air.
  3. Tire the baby long walk outdoors, outdoor games, bathe before bed.
  4. Don't feed him if he wakes up during the night. There is no need to give substitutes - juice or compote, they are sweet, and it is not a fact that children will not want to enjoy them every night instead of milk. Let milk replace water first, which is best for digestive tract, and it won’t cause any special desire to wake up at night to take it.

9 reasons why you feel sleepy after drinking alcohol

Many people are interested in why, when you drink, you want to sleep. The fact is that the brain of a drunk person experiences oxygen deficiency, metabolic processes in his body decrease and what comes after this cannot be called good sleep, rather it looks like a loss of consciousness. There are 10 reasons for drowsiness:

  1. Destruction of the red blood cell membrane by alcohol. The membrane that covers each red blood cell does not allow them to stick together. When the membrane is destroyed, red blood cells cannot exist normally and begin to stick together, forming blood clots. As a result of oxygen deficiency in the brain and body tissues, signs of hypoxia appear after alcohol.
  2. Inactivity of part of the brain, lethargy, which is a consequence of blockage small vessels formed clots.
  3. The inability of a weakened body to maintain consciousness.
  4. Braking metabolic process in the brain due to lack of glucose and oxygen.
  5. The inability of capillaries to pass clumped red blood cells, which leads to oxygen starvation individual areas cerebral tissue.
  6. Disabling the energy-consuming wakefulness regime under the influence of alcohol. This occurs because a certain number of neurons die without oxygen. A lot of energy is spent on maintaining the vitality of the remaining ones, as a result of which the person is overcome by sleep.
  7. Increased brain fluid to flush out decaying dead neurons.
  8. A sharp change in metabolic level. Due to vasodilation due to the fact that you drank wine or other alcohol before bed and increased blood flow, neurons receive a large number of oxygen and glucose. Soon the opposite process begins: blood flow decreases as a result of vascular spasms, and oxygen starvation occurs.
  9. Large energy expenditures to remove toxins. The body weakens and a person wants to sleep after drinking alcohol.

All this happens to the body not only after strong drinks, but also after beer. But there is another reason why beer makes many people sleepy - the presence of hops in this drink, which has a sedative effect.
When asked whether you can eat before bed, experts give a positive answer, but remember - dinner is not the main meal of the day, you don’t need to eat a lot.

List of used literature:

  • Levin Ya. I., Kovrov G. V. Some modern approaches to the treatment of insomnia // Attending physician. - 2003. - No. 4.
  • Kotova O. V., Ryabokon I. V. Modern aspects therapy for insomnia // Attending physician. - 2013. - No. 5.
  • T. I. Ivanova, Z. A. Kirillova, L. Ya. Rabichev. Insomnia (treatment and prevention). - M.: Medgiz, 1960.

We hope you have known for a long time that the rule “do not eat after 18.00” does not work. You should give up food, at least fatty and high-calorie foods, 1.5-2 hours before bedtime - and this will be quite enough. But is it worth being hungry if you want to eat something right before bed?

Nutritionists agree that this is not at all necessary. Another thing is what is the best choice for a late dinner the right products, that is, those that will improve and not move the needle on the scale. This material contains ten options for a late-night snack without harming your figure.

Dark chocolate

Chocolate is often considered a forbidden food, but not all types of chocolate are equal in this regard. There are significant nutritional differences between a nutty candy bar and a dark chocolate bar. Dark chocolate in particular contains minimal amount sugars and many beneficial antioxidants that reduce blood pressure, fight inflammation and improve mood.

Pistachios

Pistachios are a great evening snack, especially if you can find a salt-free option. The fact is that they contain fiber (necessary for optimal digestive process), as well as biotin, vitamin B6, thiamine, folic acid, unsaturated fats and plant sterols, which makes them extremely nutritious and at the same time provides the body with a lot of pleasant bonuses.

Soup

It’s unlikely that you expected to find soup on this list, but still. The fact is that any warm liquid has a calming effect on us, but if you are sure that you need something more filling than a cup of tea, or vegetable soup It will come in very handy. Important Note: Avoid vegetables such as lentils or beans in soup. They are quite difficult to digest, and this will make your sleep restless, which is definitely not the end goal.

Pumpkin seeds

A good nighttime meal is one that will curb hunger while also helping you relax and prepare for sleep. One serving of pumpkin seeds contains almost 50% of the recommended daily norm magnesium, and magnesium is known to be important for restful and deep sleep.

Warm milk + honey

Warm milk has long been used as a sleep aid, making it good choice for an evening snack if you have trouble falling asleep. It is interesting to note that, despite studies confirming the effectiveness of this method, this may all be a consequence of our psychological perception. However, the amino acids found in milk lead to the production of the hormone serotonin, which will help you and “ bad thoughts", preventing you from falling asleep. Adding a spoonful of honey, of course, will increase the amount of sugar in the drink, but at the same time it will affect the level of serotonin, which will also be useful for falling asleep smoothly.

Blueberry

Blueberries are rich in antioxidants (moreover, frozen berries are not inferior to fresh ones), and, in addition, contain nutrients which, according to numerous studies, can improve brain function and general indicators health. If you're not on a strict diet and can afford the extra calories, add two tablespoons of cream to the berries for an incredibly delicious dessert.

Rice

New research from PLoS One shows that a diet whose main component is rice is associated with up to a 46% reduction in insomnia, compared with bread (no change) and noodles (sleep worse). Products with high glycemic index(GI), which includes rice, can speed up the production of tryptophan and melatonin - hormones that are extremely important for quality sleep.

Almond

Nuts are considered not the most best snack for those who seek to lose weight, mainly due to their fat content. However, a 2012 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who consumed almonds for 18 months lost the same amount of weight as people who gave up almonds as part of their diet (all other things being equal).

Let's add to this the fact that almonds stabilize the level of triglycerides - two main risk factors cardiovascular diseases. And, of course, let’s not forget about the magnesium content in almonds, which is considered a real “sleep pill.”

Roll with cheese

Sounds incredible, doesn't it? And, nevertheless, if for some reason you have not eaten during the day and are now extremely hungry, prepare yourself a roll with cheese (and, if desired, with chicken breast). We will not talk about calories here, but only about practical usefulness. Thus, cheese is rich in casein, a complex protein that, according to the British Journal of Nutrition, will not only make you feel full, but also speed up your metabolism.

Ginger tea

Let us remember that our body sometimes works in such a way that thirst is disguised as hunger. However, drinking several glasses of water - especially if you don't feel like it - is not at all necessary. What about ginger tea? Besides obvious advantages for immunity, ginger will relieve you of the nervous system-stimulating caffeine contained in tea. This means it will help you fall asleep faster.