If you like to curl up on a couch with a bountiful bowl of ice cream in the evening, you may want to skip that.
Sugary snacks before bed can be a sleep disrupter. Sugar is well-known for causing inflammation
and diets high in sugar lead to chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation can lead to heart disease, diabetes and obesity. But inflammation can also cause sleep apnea, which is when inflamed airways obstruct your breathing while sleeping.
In addition to being inflammatory, refined sugars rapidly increase blood sugar levels thus increasing energy levels which can be problematic when you are trying to fall asleep. Not only could it prohibit falling asleep, but it could cause you to not sleep as deeply and arouse more easily.
If you just can't give up that sweet treat, doctors recommend not eating sugary foods for 2 to 3 hours before bed to give it time to digest properly. And a maximum of 6 to 9 tablespoons is the maximum amount of sugar that should be taken in during a day.
