The hazards of eating before bed
After a hard day’s work, it’s finally time to turn in. You relish a good night’s sleep to prepare you for another long day. You hit the lights whenever you feel the familiar urge creeping up. You pull down the sheets and comply with your urges; the next thing you know, you’re feverishly eating before bed.
Night eating syndrome is a condition where somebody eats an excessive amount of food before going to bed or perhaps the middle of the night. A lot of people with the disorder declare that they should eat prior to going to bed to ensure that they sleep well. You’ll find extraordinary cases, however, where folks are not aware of their nightly binges, getting out of bed and visiting the kitchen in a sleeping state.
Night eating syndrome is the result of a number of factors such as stress, hormone imbalances, genetic tendencies, eating disorder, mood disorder, anxiety, depression and obesity.
Why eating before bed is bad
-Individuals that have this problem eat irregularly during the day. They are left feeling stuffed and tend to feel nauseous in the morning. They decide to skip breakfast and eat lightly making their food consumption uneven. With there being few calories consumed during the day, people are forced to eat meals through the evening, continuing the unhealthy cycle.
-Individuals feel exhaustion each morning. The body readies itself for sleep after dinner by decreasing the body’s metabolism. When this occurs, the body slows down the rate where it burns calories. Eating before bed forces the body to spend energy processing food where it could actually have spent the energy needed to keep your heart beating, lungs pumping and sustaining eye movement during REM.
-Eating before bed triggers stomach cramps and bloating. Food may not be properly digested during the night triggering cramps and a sense of bloatedness. This is a result of gas and food particles left from improper digestion.
-Slows growth! If your body is made to expend energy digesting food when asleep, the human growth hormone (HGH) production decreases. That is a bad thing simply because HGH burns fat and builds muscles.
-Folks with this condition may feel insomnia. Such a thing happens when they feel like they haven’t eaten the quantity of food needed before bedtime.
Don’t be concerned though when you experience a hypnic jerk–it is not due to eating before bed. A hypnic jerk is generally described as a falling sensation or an electric shock. It occurs during the Rapid Eye Movement stage of sleep when somebody is sleeping uncomfortably. Additionally, it occurs when somebody is overly-tired.
A hypnic jerk is a normal experience. It occurs due to the body’s changing temperature and breathing when falling asleep. It is the result of muscles relaxing. The brain misinterprets this as a sign of falling. The brain then signals our limbs to wake up; consequently the jerking legs or arms. Hypnic jerks normally happen only once or twice a night.
Tia Arnold is a doctor who knows the bad effects of eating before bed and what hypnic jerk means.
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