Parameters: Why eating sugar or carbohydrates before bed is a bad idea?

Source: Huffington Post

Have you ever been awakened during the night to use the restroom?  How about after eating near bedtime?  How about eating/drinking sugary foods/liquids near bedtime?  Why do I even ask such questions?  The answer lies in my own disorder (or disease) -- Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder (GERD).  In the blog post below, I will highlight new findings which might affect your sleep and be related to what you eat/drink before bedtime.

"Do not eat before bedtime"

Have you ever been told that you should eat at least 3-4 hours before bed?  Why?  Do you wake up with a burning sensation in your throat around 4 hours after going to sleep?  If you do and eat/drink sugary foods/liquids before bed, there is a reason why this is the case.



In a recent news brief by "Military Health System" titled "Healthy sleep for healing" certain factors were highlighted that negatively impacted the sleep of soldiers in the military.  Obviously, each of us need good sleep to feel rested and let our body heal throughout the night.  Though, for people like myself, that is not always possible with GERD.  I am not alone as it turns out.  Many other factors contribute to disruptive sleep which is necessary for healing the body.  Which means, my body might not be receiving the optimal amount of sleep necessary for repairing the damage I inflict during my waking hours.  What can I do?



For me, I take medication.  Additionally, I have found out that I cannot (or should not) eat any sugar or carbohydrate-rich food right before bedtime.  In fact, for me, eating any item might produce problems 3-4 hours later.  Waking up coughing -- due to GERD.  For years, I did not understand what caused this.  I would wake up systematically at 3-4 hours after sleep.  I do like to eat a small dessert (hostess cupcake) before sleeping.  Turns out that was part of the issue.



From the news article introduced above, the same problems occur for people who use beer or wine as a sleep sedative before bed.  For years, I drank and had the same problem.  Turns out, after not drinking for the last 5.5 years, I now find out the culprit.   In the article, a brief excerpt shown below explains the occurrence in short:

“The number one nonprescription drug people are taking to help them get to sleep at night is a beer or a glass of wine, or other kinds of alcohol,” said Dr. Julie Kinn, research psychologist at DHA. “But then, you’re putting a lot of sugar into your body, you’re going to metabolize it in a few hours and need to get up and go to the bathroom, and then you’re going to be wide awake. Plus drinking alcohol doesn’t help you learn other good ways of getting to sleep like meditating, purposefully relaxing or turning of all your screens, etc.”

I realize that the discussion in the article is centered around soldiers use of various sleep sedatives to attain a healthy night's sleep.  Further, I realize that the main take home message of the article is to find other -- i.e. healthy ways -- of encouraging our body's to have a restful night's sleep: meditation, yoga, exercise, etc.  Although, what I did not realize that for years, I would wake up in the middle of the night due to the sugar which had been metabolized from two sources: alcohol and sugary foods.

Conclusion...

Over the last few years, I have independently come to the same conclusion as the article above.  First, I stopped drinking which eliminated one possible source of sugar which would wake me up.  Next, I reduced the amount of foods (with sugar) which I eat late at night.  As a result, I have had less incidences of late night disruptions due surges of sugar hitting my bloodstream after being metabolized.  Which is great for someone like me who has gastric reflux disorder which is genetically inherited.  Still, exercising along with meditation and yoga can also provide numerous benefits in stress reduction which will lead to better sleep too.  The body's inner workings are complicated and often hard to untangle from one another.  Although, clearly, late night eating has been associated with gastric reflux.  The question which has been answered by the information above was why eating sugar or drinking alcohol before bed was a bad idea.  Knowledge is power and this knowledge is useful to people such as myself.