Sleep scientist Dr Cheri Mah reveals the food you should never eat before bed as it will destroy your slumber

A sleep scientist revealed the food you eat before bed that will destroy your sleep.

Dr Cheri Mah, from San Francisco, California, who is a professor at the Stanford Sleep Medicine Centre, spoke to Dragon's Den star Steven Bartlett on his podcast The Diary Of a CEO. 

The mother-of-one revealed people should avoid alcohol, caffeine, fried food, sugary carbs and tomato based food, because it can bring on acid reflux, before bed, if they want to optimise their sleep. 

She said: 'What we eat can affect our sleep...the stages of our sleep or how we sleep during the night time, some of the smaller studies shown, what you eat can then affect having more awakenings during the nighttime, affecting the quality of your sleep.

'I think we're starting to understand the connection of what we eat and how our gut is responding to that, then how that potentially can affect your sleep and ultimately your daytime functioning the next day.

Dr Cheri Mah, from San Francisco, California, revealed the food you eat before bed that will destroy your sleep and said school starts too early for teenagers on The Diary Of a CEO podcast 

'But we do recognise from sleep deprivation studies that individuals will make different nutritional choices and grab for the cookies and the ice cream later at night than they would if they were well rested.'

Dr Cheri revealed their are ways to wind down before bed to get a better sleep, saying slowing down a 'racing mind' is key.

She said: 'What I'd recommend is spending 10 minutes processing your thoughts outside of bed in dim light, every single night, I would recommend you could do stretching, you could do deep breathing exercises to activate your parasympathetic system and dampen down your sympathetic system.'

Your parasympathetic nervous system is a network of nerves that relaxes your body after periods of stress or danger.

The sympathetic system is best known for its role in responding to dangerous or stressful situations.

The parasympathetic system basically undoes the work of sympathetic division after a stressful situation. 

She added: 'That's what I recommend for a lot of my athletes if that's not your thing, I recommend journaling getting your thoughts down onto paper or writing a to-do list those are easy ones that all of us can do, even if you start with five minutes today.

'It's easier to slowly pump your brakes and then try to sleep versus if you were going 60 miles an hour on a freeway and then suddenly slamming on the brakes and just jumping into bed, so you actually have a process to slow yourself down. It will help prepare you to actually get better sleep during the night time.'

Dr Cheri spoke to Dragon's Den star Steven Bartlett (pictured) on his podcast The Diary Of a CEO

Tips on how to get to sleep and sleep better

Insomnia means you regularly have problems sleeping. It can get better by changing your sleeping habits

One in three adults in the UK and almost half of US adults suffer with insomnia, with millions more reporting sleepless nights.

Long-term sleep deprivation can cause obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 

Insomnia can be caused by stress, anxiety, alcohol, caffeine or nicotine, noise, shift work and jet lag. 

If you regularly have problems sleeping, there are simple ways to improve your sleep hygiene. 

 

 Keep regular sleep hours 

• Try going to bed when you feel tired and getting up at the same time each day. 

Create a restful space 

• Dark, quiet and cool environments generally make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.

 Get moving

• Exercise is good for your physical health and your mind.  It can also help you sleep better. Just don't do vigorous exercise too close to your bedtime. 

 

 Don't force it 

• If you find yourself unable to get to sleep, get up and do something relaxing for a bit. Then get back into bed when you feel a bit sleepier. 

Write down your worries

• If you find your worries keep you up at night, try writing them down before going to bed. 

Ease off the caffeine

• Alcohol and caffeine can stop you from falling asleep and having a deep sleep. Cutting down on caffeine close to bedtime and alcoholic drinks could help you dose off. 

 

 

Source NHS 

Dr Cheri also revealed that studies have shown that school actually starts too early for children. 

She said: 'In California this year was the first year that school start times for high schools and for middle schools was shifted much later, because there are studies to show that when our students are better rested they have higher attendance rates.

'Their GPA and grades are much higher, there's less mental health issues, there's less car accidents, so these studies have been over the last decade and longer in which they have built evidence to help make decisions to start school time later.

'At the age of high school many of those body clocks are shifted and so students want to go to bed later and wake up later naturally.

'That's just how our sleep changes through the life cycle but when they stay up late and then we cut their sleep short by forcing them to get up really early for school they have insufficient sleep, and that builds like a sleep debt and so they're not setting themselves up for success in school for learning and memory.

She concluded: 'If we can shift the school start time get these students to have a little bit more sleep, they ultimately are better prepared for school, come to school, have less car accidents and are just healthier students.'