15 Foods That Will Keep You Awake At Night

You know that gassy feeling you sometimes get after eating greasy foods? It's definitely not going to make it easier to sleep at night. High-fat foods such as pizza can bother your stomach as they digest, and if you're even a little bit lactose intolerant, the cheese is going to make your gastric woes even worse as you try to get some Zzz's.

It's a popular midnight snack, but chocolate contains caffeine, which many of us consume deliberately every day in the form of coffee to keep us awake. Unless you want to be up all night, get your chocolate fix earlier in the day.

Have you ever noticed how you tend to wake up super early even after a long night out? A bit of booze might help you get to sleep, but later on, it deprives you of truly restful REM sleep. Plus, its dehydrating nature is likely to have you waking up earlier than you'd like in search of a glass of water.

Many of us get cravings for a late-night taco run, but you might want to hold off on the hot sauce if you're hoping to get some shut-eye. Spicy foods can cause heartburn and leave you tossing and turning for hours after you eat them.

We've already mentioned that caffeine is the opposite of what you want if you're aiming for a good night's sleep, and it's often added to our favorite soft drinks. But soda might be even worse for snoozing than coffee thanks to its carbonation. When all that CO₂ builds up in your stomach, you're assured to have a very gassy night with a good bit of stomach discomfort.

Think twice before chowing down on that broccoli casserole before heading to bed — broccoli (and its cousin, cauliflower) contains a lot of fiber that's great for keeping you full throughout the day, but not so great for helping you fall asleep at night. Your body has to work hard to digest these vegetables, and just as you might find it hard to sleep while working out at the gym, your insides are going to have a hard time relaxing enough for you to get a good night's rest.

Where's the harm in having a small roast beef sandwich to curb your hunger before bed? Inside all those marbled fats and protein, that's where. Those compounds take a long time to digest and will keep your gut working all night to process them into energy you can use. Save the beef for lunchtime, not bedtime.

If you can't resist a salad or sandwich before bed, at least do yourself the favor of holding off on the blue cheese. It contains tyramine, which is found in aged and fermented foods such as the "stinkier" cheeses and cured meats and has been shown to stimulate brain activity. Stick to these foods when your brain needs a boost at work, not when you're trying to get it to calm down at night.

Tomatoes are basically a superfood for all the health benefits they offer, but make sure you're getting your daily dose long before you hit the hay. Like aged cheeses, these tasty fruits contain tyramine, which can keep your brain going even when your body just wants to rest. Make sure you avoid eating eggplant for the same reason.

Even the best of us sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to get a cold treat, but if you want to have sweet dreams, you might want to skip the sweet foods. High amounts of sugar have been shown to cause nightmares, which can disrupt restful sleep and leave you feeling exhausted the next day.

Foods with a lot of water (such as the aptly named watermelon) are great for staying hydrated, but not so great for staying asleep. It's a terrible feeling to have to leave your bed at odd hours of the night just to make a bathroom run!

High in grease, tyramine, fat, and protein, bacon is probably the worst snacking decision you could make just a couple hours before you go to sleep. This tasty, but salty meat will keep both your brain and the rest of your body from wanting to drift off to dreamland.

Lots of people munch on celery when they want to lose weight because it has an incredible amount of fiber, which can help you feel full throughout the day. But all that fiber will keep your tummy hard at work for a while, and when you factor in the high water content, this is definitely a food that's best left for lunchtime.

Beans are high in protein and fiber, both of which are great if you want to lose weight, but bad if you want to doze off. Many people also have trouble digesting beans in the first place, so when you finally do fall asleep, you might find yourself waking up to run to the bathroom.

We've already mentioned that sugar is not exactly a sleep aid, and candy is basically all sugar. It causes your blood sugar levels to go way up, then crash, which makes your body produce insulin to regulate them. The initial crash might help you to get to sleep at first, but all the changes going on inside you will make it hard to stay asleep.

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