Fruit is always a good snack to keep on hand for any time of day, but it also makes a great evening snack because it is low in calories and high in nutritional benefits. It will also give you a feeling of fullness, which is probably just what you're after.
Foods with excessive water content: Foods with excessive water content such as watermelon and cucumber should be avoided. In short, eating these foods close to sleep means sleeping with a full bladder. This will pick you up to go to the bathroom at midnight. This may affect the quality of your sleep.
Tart cherries and their juice make an ideal late-night snack since studies suggest they may help you sleep better.
Cherries are known for being one of the best foods for sleep as they naturally contain melatonin. Snacking on cherries or drinking cherry juice can help promote longer, deeper sleep.
Cherries. Cherries and cherry juice contain high levels of melatonin, a hormone in the brain that controls your sleep regulation. One study even shows that drinking tart cherry juice could improve sleep in people who suffer from insomnia.
Apples contain a combination of nutrients that may contribute to a good night's sleep. However, the amount of nutrients in apples is not significant, so it's unlikely that apples can promote sleep. That said, they shouldn't inhibit sleep either.
As per a few studies, eating fruits before sleeping can lead to a spike in the level of sugar, which can further lead to insomnia rather than inducing sleep and making you feel relaxed.
Though going to bed hungry can help with sleep and weight loss, lack of access to food can actually increase your risk of obesity, asthma, and other health problems.
Cherries
Cherries (especially sour cherries like the Montmorency variety) are one of the only (and highest) natural food sources of melatonin.
Besides the extra calories, eating too close to bedtime can have other health implications such as digestive issues. When sleeping, our digestion naturally slows down as our metabolism enters a resting state. Lying down in bed immediately after eating can lead to symptoms such as indigestion, acid reflux and heartburn.
“Eat after 8, and you'll gain weight” has a nice ring to it, but it's not true. It is based on the myth that the body cannot properly metabolize food during sleep. However, the body has intricate systems of metabolizing, storing, and using energy from food.
Scientists can't agree on a single set time, but the consensus seems to be within three hours before bedtime. So if you go to bed at 11 p.m., don't eat after 8 p.m. Banishing late night snacks after that time could help alleviate the symptoms of acid reflux disease, too.
If you are having fruits for dinner, eat just that. Having other types of food, along with fruits could cause indigestion. The digestion process for fruits is entirely different from that for other food groups. So, if you are having a light dinner with other types of food, eat fruits only after 30 minutes from then.
It's best to discard apples that are soft or show other physical signs of expiration, as moisture content under the skin can indicate contamination (5). You can usually tell whether an apple has started to go bad by examining its appearance. Apples that have gone bad should be discarded.
The bottom line. Eating bananas before bed may help you get a good night's sleep. Bananas are rich in magnesium, potassium, tryptophan, vitamin B6, carbs, and fiber, all of which may improve sleep quality via different mechanisms.
As a guideline, you should stop eating two to three hours before bed. This will give your body enough time to digest your food, lowering your chances of acid reflux and digestive issues keeping you up.
It's best to stop eating about three hours before going to bed. That allows plenty of time for your body to digest the last food you ate so it won't disrupt your sleep, but leaves a small enough window before sleep that you won't go to bed feeling hungry.
New study provides experimental evidence that late eating may increase hunger, obesity risk. Obesity afflicts approximately 42 percent of the U.S. adult population and contributes to the onset of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and other conditions.
Turns out it is rich in magnesium, a mineral that helps the body and brain relax and regulate melatonin. It's also naturally high in tryptophan. Blueberries are beneficial because they are loaded with antioxidants that protect us from stress caused by sleep disorders and help support brain health and memory.
The vitamin C and melatonin in strawberries both promote healthy sleep. Plus, according to the National Sleep Foundation, the antioxidants in strawberries can help counteract the oxidative stress caused by sleep disorders.
A great nighttime snack is cottage cheese or turkey (both high-protein) protein) and loaded with the amino acid tryptophan. Tryptophan is well known to make you sleepy–think about it after Thanksgiving dinner. You can also try decaffeinated or herbal tea, some of which are even made specifically for bedtime.