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Sleeping Problems

Submitted by Loring A. Windblad on December 15, 2009

Food and sleep may seem to be completely unrelated aspects of human life but there are many times when the two meet and, in most cases, the relationship is not a happy one! The problem lies in exactly when we eat food and when we sleep. When we eat our last meal late in the night and then immediately hit the sack, there are fundamental problems that will begin to show up over time.

This is basically because we sleep in the supine position which means that our entire body is completely horizontal. This places a lot of stress upon the valves of the stomach and while food is being digested, the stomach acids can then attack these valves.

More important than just this simple fact is our internal body clock. Our bodies follow an internal mechanism called the circadian rhythm.

This dictates everything from when the sleep hormone is secreted, when we get sleep, when our bowel movements stop, when our kidneys stop producing urine, and even when our hormones reach their peak values - the later that we eat, the higher the possibility of the digestive process interrupting our sleep or digestion coming to a standstill.

This is where the circadian rhythm plays its part. As a general rule, one should always leave a four hour window between when dinner is ingested and bed time.

Untimely eating habits have ramifications on the various digestive processes. When food passes from our food pipe to the stomach, it goes past a valve called the esophageal sphincter.

After the bolus of food is past the sphincter, it seals shut. This is the reason why food doesn’t come back up our throats. If one were to eat a heavy meal and then immediately lie down, there is pressure placed upon the sphincter.

This in itself is not problematic but the problem is that the food in the stomach is mixed hydrochloric acid and an enzyme called pepsin that can break down protein. Years of following an untimely and unhealthy schedule will cause the esophageal sphincter to get damaged and a problem called gastroesophageal reflux disorder to occur.

This condition can cause a lot of complete damage to the sphincter and causing other related problems.

For these reasons, it is important that dinner is the lightest meal of the day or that you ensure an adequate gap between eating and sleeping. Make sure that your last meal for the day does not consist of any red meat dishes or oily foodstuffs. These foods can take a long time to digest and will increase your risk of suffering from acid reflux.