Seven foods to avoid before bedtime

There’s nothing wrong with a midnight snack, but certain foods can disrupt sleep or even cause bad dreams.
If you’re hankering for a bedtime snack or beverage, don’t just grab the first thing that sounds good. While some foods — a light, carby snack like crackers or an apple — can actually help your sleep, many can disrupt it, causing nightmares, digestive issues, insomnia and sleep-interrupting trips to the bathroom.
Pizza: You might want to rethink that late-night order for pizza. That cheesy topping might give you nightmares, according to a 2015 study, and the acidic tomato sauce can lead to late night tummy aches. While pizza can healthy, it’s really too substantial for a bedtime snack; eating a second dinner adds a lot of extra calories that you probably don’t need.
Coffee: While some people seem able to down a late-night espresso without losing a wink of sleep, most are not so lucky. Try to cap caffeine six hours before bedtime to give it time to process out of your system.
Sugary Cereal: A bowl of cereal at bedtime may seem to check all the boxes, but only if you choose a low-sugar, high-fiber variety like Cheerios or bran flakes. Sugary cereals digest rapidly and the spike in blood sugar could throw off sleep hormones.
Spicy Foods: Spicy foods do more than stimulate your taste buds — they can also irritate your stomach (particularly problematic if you’re prone to heartburn), which can make it harder to fall or stay asleep.
Soda: Between the bubbles and the caffeine, many sodas are a no-no before bedtime. And if it’s regular — not diet — soda, it’s chock-full of sugar, which is super-stimulating. High-sugar foods are also linked to less restful sleep.
Wine: While a glass or two of wine might initially make you feel sleepy, alcohol actually disrupts your natural sleep patterns. Regularly consuming alcohol can worsen your sleep quality and also means you’ll likely wake up in the middle of the night as the sedative effect wears off.
Orange Juice: Try eating a whole piece of fruit, such as an apple, instead. The carbohydrates can actually help your sleep, while the fiber helps you absorb the natural sugars more slowly.
(Food Network)