While having a small snack before bed isn’t necessarily all that terrible and can actually sometimes be rather beneficial, overeating before bed is a bad habit. Overeating right before you head to bed can actually get in the way of a proper night’s sleep.
After eating a large meal, your body needs to devote energy to the digestive process, and this can take several hours to do. Unfortunately, this can’t happen properly when you’re heading to bed or sleeping.
There are actually several health risks that accompany the habit of overeating before bed. On top of the various ways it impacts your health, it can also cause quite a bit of discomfort, which can act as a blockade to getting a good night’s sleep. Below, you can read about what happens when you overeat right before bed and how to get the best night’s sleep if you accidentally do.
You Might Lose Sleep
When you overeat, you end up becoming overly full. Feeling full like that can be quite uncomfortable and make you feel sick or even in pain. It’s no surprise that if you’re feeling this way, you’re probably going to be unable to fall asleep.
Being uncomfortable at bedtime will greatly affect how fast you’ll fall asleep and your ability to stay asleep. You might end up waking up shortly after you’ve finally dozed off, just to find that you need to run to the bathroom. This is especially true if you’re somebody who experiences gastrointestinal issues, such as IBS.
If you find yourself needing to eat right before bed, it’s best to eat a small snack. Keep whatever food you eat light and healthy, and this should avoid any discomfort from feeling too full that comes with overeating.
Heartburn Is More Likely
Overeating right before bed is known to cause fairly significant gastrointestinal distress. This is especially true if you happen to struggle with gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD. Acid reflux happens when stomach acid actually comes up into the esophagus and causes an unpleasant burning sensation.
When you overeat late at night, this can very likely cause heartburn or acid reflux to happen. When you lie down with a full stomach, it’s that much easier for stomach acid to flow into the esophagus and cause discomfort.
Heartburn and acid reflux at bedtime can cause more than just discomfort. It can worsen symptoms of asthma, make swallowing difficult, and even disrupt your ability to sleep. If you want to avoid having heartburn, especially if you’re someone who regularly deals with it, try not to eat right before you head to bed.
You Could Mess With Your Digestion
If you overeat right before bed, there’s a chance that your digestion will be messed with. Your digestion works best when you’re standing or sitting upright, so that gravity can actually help your food move down through your body’s digestive tract.
When you’re lying down in bed, obviously, gravity cannot help aid your food’s journey through your body’s digestive tract. If you’ve overeaten and you’re especially full, this becomes even worse, in that you might feel like your food is coming back up, as mentioned above about heartburn.
It’s best not to eat right before bed to avoid any problems with digestion. This is especially true for overeating. If you feel you need a snack around bedtime, remember to keep it light.
You Might Gain Weight
While it’s not inherently unhealthy to eat at night, this only applies when you aren’t overeating. Overeating at bedtime can greatly contribute to weight gain, which can cause a series of health problems.
On top of that, eating processed foods too late at night can actually mess with your body’s production of the hormone leptin, which signals to your brain that you’re full. If leptin can’t let you know you’re full, you may take to overeating, which leads to weight gain over time.
Overeating on its own can easily lead to weight gain, but it’s even more likely when you’re doing it before bed. Light and healthy snacks are alright to satisfy that nighttime hunger, but that’s it.
You Could Affect Your Blood Sugar
Depending on what you’re overeating, it’s very likely that you’ll cause blood sugar spikes that can be fairly unhealthy, especially if you have diabetes. It’s so important to watch what foods you’re eating, especially at night, and to make sure you’re staying away from anything with too much sugar.
On top of blood sugar spikes being unhealthy and sometimes downright dangerous, they can cause other issues in your body which makes it difficult to sleep. Blood sugar spikes can lead to feeling anxious and a rise in body temperature, which all make you uncomfortable and make it harder to fall asleep.
You want to ensure that any snacks you are eating before bed are in moderation and have little to no added sugars. Eating a small snack that is low in carbs and high in protein can actually help mitigate your blood sugar while you sleep.
Conclusion
Overeating right before you go to bed is a bad idea overall. There are so many negative effects that happen within your body when you overeat right before trying to sleep.
If you aren’t overeating and still have trouble sleeping, there are many things you can try to help your sleep cycle. Try sticking to a nighttime routine, staying away from screens, and investing in a comfy bed, like the adjustable EB01 bed base from FlexiSpot.
Now that you’re familiar with what happens when you overeat right before bed, you can make sure you stick to healthier habits. Remember, small and healthy snacks at night aren’t a problem.
