Why Should You Not to Sleep Immediately After Eating: Are you sleeping immediately after eating? But you should know that you are inviting some threats to your health and well being. Eventually eating and sleeping are the opposite side of the same coin which is known as our lifecycle, and it holds our existence to a great extent. But jumping straight into bed from the dinner table can results in some serious health problem. To get detail information regarding this, you have to go through our article. So be with us and help yourself with a little change in your lifestyle to get a better health.
Why Do We feel Sleepy After Taking Meal?
It’s quite natural that we feel the urge to take a nap after taking the meal. But have we ever thought why this happens with us every time? Indeed, there is some solid reason that made us lethargic and lazy after a heavy lunch or dinner. Let us explain a little how this happen?
• We take different foods to get the energy for physiological work. Our body cannot use the food unless it breaks down into small particles. These small molecules of food are known as proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates and fat. After the absorption procedure starts with the help of different body organ and fluids, carbohydrates and sugar break down into glucose, which supplies us the energy.
• To complete the whole digestion process, our digestive system secrets different hormones. To name a few post-eating hormones are, Amylin, Glucagon and Cholecystokinin.
• Due to the influence of these hormones the blood sugar level increase and we feel the fullness of the stomach.
• The spike of insulin level after we taking meal entirely depends on the type of food we are consuming.
• Protein and fat type of food turned into energy for muscles whereas carbohydrates turned into glucose.
• At the same time, our brain produces Serotonin that makes us feel drowsiness. Moreover, these foods also encourage the melatonin secretion in the brain, and we feel sleepy after a heavy lunch or dinner.
Diet and Sleep: Relation-
Our diet is directly related to sleep and other physiological work. A heavy meal makes us feel the fullness of stomach which is an uncomfortable situation. Due to this reason, we cannot do anything with a full tummy.
Our basic instinct provokes us to seek a suitable resting place and we do nothing but lay down. We take it as a routine, but for healthy living, there is a big, “NO” for those who get addicted to this short sleep break as taking a nap after a considerable mean can cause a big disaster to your health.
Let us see how:
• Our digestive system works best when we keep our body in straight or upright position just after we take lunch or dinner.
• The absorption of food particles could not work correctly when we keep our body in a lying position.
• Due to this habit of lying down straight after a meal would increase the risk of chronic indigestion.
How Long Should We Wait After Meal?
Now as we all are aware of the fact that going to bed just after finishing the meal is not at all beneficial for health. So the question that coming up next is what should be the appropriate time gap between taking meal and sleeping?
Though it entirely depends on an individual’s food habit and pattern of lifestyle, it is recommended that 2 to 3 hours gap is a must after a huge dinner or lunch before you go for sleeping.
In the meantime, the food will get enough time to get digested well, and we can avoid disturbance in sleeping that a full stomach may cause.
[Also Read: 8 Ways to Detox your Bedroom for Better Sleep]
Why Should You Not to Sleep Immediately After Eating?
Now we are coming to the most vital part of the discussion that what can happen to you if you are practicing such an unhealthy habit. So let us have a look at the adverse effects:
1. Weight Gain:
Sleeping after the meal may cause weight gain. To maintain a balance weight it is necessary to burn the calories, but when we sleep just right after lunch, there is no option for calorie burn. Instead, it gets deposited in your body. If you continue this practice for a long time, you will experience a massive gain in body weight.
2. Indigestion:
Suppose you are following a healthy balanced diet, but still unconsciously you are encouraging indigestion in many ways. So if you thought about your post-meal activities, you might find the cause of ruining your digestion power.
Common we lie on our back or side after eating. In these positions, there are chances that the digestive juice comes back to the oesophagus and thus producing excess acid. This may cause heartburn. There is also the chance of burping that may disrupt your sleep.
3. Increased Acidity:
When the food enters into the digestive system, acid secretion starts. A partition known as diaphragm helps to keep the acids in the stomach. But sleeping right after eating causes the acid and foodstuff to come back into the esophagus, which causes acid reflexes disease. You can avoid acid reflux symptoms easily by changing your habit.
[Related: Best Home Remedies for Acidity]
4. Elevate the Risk of Stroke:
A little lack of awareness on our part can create a great disaster like the stroke in case if you are not maintaining a time gap in between your meal and bedtime.
So be cautious if your eating pattern is too close to your sleeping time. The more you increase the difference in time, the less you get the risk of getting a stroke.
Studies reveal that every 20 minutes of gap reduces the risk of stroke by 20%. When we sleep just after the meal, our digestive system has to take extra workload to complete the process of digestion.
This may influence spike in blood sugar and pressure which are harmful and increase the risk of stroke.
[Related: How to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke]
5. Interrupts Sleep:
What we eat every day affects our living directly. So if anyone is going through sleepless hours at night, the reason may be nothing but the sleeping pattern just after the meal.
A heavy meal takes at least 2 to 3 hours to be digested, so there must be a gap of hours between eating and sleeping. Otherwise, anyone may experience stomach pain due to indigestion which may cause sleeplessness.
After a hectic work schedule, all we wish is nothing but a deep sound sleep to get back the energy back in the morning. But our unhealthy pattern of eating and sleeping causes discomfort that leads to sleepless hours at night, and we feel clumsy, irritated and tired every morning.
So after going through the discussion so far, it is clear to all that how a little change in your sleeping habit can ensure a decent nap at night.
[Also read: 12 Life Dangerous Bedtime Habits must Avoid]
Some Additional Tips:
• Fix your dinner time at least two hours before you go to bed.
• Suppose you want to take some snacks before sleeping, be sure it is light and easily digestible.
• Avoid consuming heavy carbohydrates before sleeping time which takes time to digest.
• Avoid a shower just after dinner as a post-dinner shower may increase the blood flow in all the organs and interrupts the digestive system to work properly. So wait at least 45 minutes after taking the meal and then take a shower if you wish.
• Avoid fruits just after your lunch or dinner as they can increase bloating. So it is always better to take fruits one hour before the meal.
• Avoid tea or coffee before going to bed as they can increase acidity.
To conclude the discussion, to ensure better digestion try some walk after eating or sit in an upright position as this will enable your digestive organs to work properly. Bring a little change for the sake of a healthy life and stay fit forever.
