Follow-up – Suzanne Hassan
There are many health risks and damages that sleep may cause to your body following eating a heavy meal day or night, so what are the most important harms of sleeping following eating?
Disadvantages of sleeping following eating:
If you have eaten a meal and then go to bed directly to sleep without any time interval, this may cause you many harms, here are the most important harms of sleeping following eating:
1. Heartburn:
Although lying down to sleep immediately following eating may seem tempting, we assure you that it is not without some risks, especially the emergence of the problem of heartburn.
While your body is trying to take a rest, your digestive system does not have that kind of luxury and has to keep working.
With the activity of the stomach and the secretion of acids in it to aid digestion, the lying position may cause these acids to rise from the stomach to the esophagus and even the throat in some cases, and this may cause you a feeling of bitterness in the mouth accompanied by a lot of belching, and may make it difficult to sleep at night, for example.
2. Gastroesophageal reflux disease:
Gastroesophageal reflux disease is caused by the failure of the valve between the stomach and esophagus to close properly, which can cause acid to go back up into the throat, and this causes a burning sensation.
Lying down and sleeping following eating may trigger this condition, a condition that if not addressed and treated immediately, may cause damage to the mucous membranes lining the throat, which in turn may cause other serious complications, and thus the damage to sleep following eating lies immediately.
3. Sleep problems and disorders:
Trying to sleep following eating may not give your body the rest it needs. On the contrary, it can cause bloating, gas and upset stomach, which will make you fluctuate a lot as you try to sleep.
This is more evident and apparent when eating meals rich in fats and oils, especially before bed.
4. Thrombosis:
Some studies have shown that sleeping right following eating may increase your chances of stroke, and that waiting some time following finishing a meal before going to bed may reduce your chances of stroke. Researchers have differed as to the reason behind what is happening here:
Some say that sleeping following eating may increase the chances of developing sleep apnea, a condition that researchers link to strokes. with clots.
5. Weight gain:
The reason here is simply that you don’t get your chance to burn even a fraction of the calories following eating, which applies to both day and night meals.
But it is worth noting here that this point in particular is one of the points of contention regarding the harms of sleeping following eating, as some researchers point out that eating before bed at night is what may increase weight, and that this does not apply to daytime meals.
How long do you have to wait between a meal and bedtime?
After eating a meal, it is preferable to wait regarding 2-4 hours before bedtime, as this gives the body enough time to digest the food and burn part of it, which reduces any pressure on the digestive system that may arise as a result of lying down and the digestion process is still going on in its most important stages.
Finally, you are well, health and peace.
