5 Ways to Ensure You’re Digesting Right When Sleeping
Promoting healthy digestion while sleeping reduces incidences of chronic conditions, increases weight loss, and boosts overall health
After a company dinner, I came home and noticed an uncomfortable feeling of fullness, even when I knew that I had not overstuffed myself. I chalked it up to some normal bloating and went to bed… only to wake up to a stomach that was even more bloated than before. I had never considered that the effects of choices I made during the daytime affected me during the nighttime too!
It turns out that the digestive system is still working all throughout the night. Even if it works slower than during the day, your gut and your sleeping routine are completely intertwined. If you don’t get the right amount of sleep, then any ongoing stomach problems may worsen. Similarly, what you eat before you go to bed can impact the quality of the sleep you receive. Promoting healthy digestion during sleeping will lead to reduced incidences of chronic diseases, enhanced weight loss, and overall better health!
Here are 5 ways to ensure that your digestive system is at its prime while you’re dozing off!
1. Don’t overeat before you go to bed
Just like the rest of the body, your digestive system also needs to rest when you are sleeping. Sleep is also the time that healing pathways are upregulated. After you sleep, if your digestive system is busy trying to work on the food that you just ate, then it won’t have the ability to rest and heal. This will worsen any already present digestive problems or may even cause new ones to develop over time. Also, if you go to bed after a huge meal, there is a higher chance that the stomach acid produced to digest the food will bubble up because you are laying down flat. Especially if you eat a fatty or greasy meal before bed, your digestive system will produce a large amount of stomach acid that can travel up the digestive track… when this occurs, most people may feel acid reflux or heartburn.
2. Sleep in the right position
There are certain positions to sleep in that will aid your body in the digestion process. One common sleeping position is simply sleeping on your left side. The digestive process is easier when this occurs because gravity allows the food to pass from the small intestine more easily to the large intestine. For some people, though, this is not the best sleeping position because it doesn’t provide the best support for the back.
If you seem to experience discomfort sleeping on your left side, another option is to sleep on your back with a small pillow under your knees and a normal one under your head. Specifically, attempt to ensure that your head is raised. Again, gravity does the trick here. Gravity prevents acid reflux and heartburn because of stomach acid traveling up and has the added benefit of clearing sinuses. As an added note, a physical therapist I met during a research hour in college presented the benefits of sleeping this way for the lumbar region… so it seems like a double YES!
The worst way to sleep is on your stomach. This causes your digestive organs to compress, which will not be particularly comfortable AND will lead to worsening of digestive issues.
3. Take some ginger tea
Gingerol is a component of ginger that enhances gastrointestinal motility. This means that it encourages your body to digest food more efficiently. It can also reduce inflammation and relieve symptoms of bloating and gas. Especially if you’ve had a large meal before snoozing, ginger can accelerate the emptying of your stomach and ensure that food passes through the colon seamlessly.
4. Do some yoga
Certain yoga poses can certainly jumpstart the digestive process and give you better overall sleep. Doing these poses before sleeping will promote healthy digestion and ensure that your digestive problems do not linger in the morning.
My favorite yoga poses to do before bed include the triangle pose, downward facing dog, half gas relief pose, and the supine twist.
5. If you are starving, eat these foods instead
If you find yourself unable to resist eating a couple of hours before bed, don’t worry! There are a few food options that are best to have before bed and are unlikely to disrupt the digestive process. These include almonds, cherries, bananas, and apples. If you want a fuller meal, try ones that are oat-based. Oats are also a natural source of melatonin and serotonin, which are great for a great night’s sleep. The foods to avoid include heavily processed foods, citrus fruits, chocolate, and spicy foods.
Many of us don’t pay much attention to what happens to our body when we are fast asleep… but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that taking care of our body while we are awake sets us up our body for better nighttime function! Implementing these 5 tips while sleeping will help you get a good night’s rest and aid in digesting your food right!
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