Spicy Meals Can Lead to Fitful Sleep

The NY Times reports that eating a spicy meal before you go to sleep can actually lead to poor sleep patterns. A study conducted by Australian researchers monitored the sleeping patterns of a group of healthy young men that had consumed mustard as well as Tabasco sauce before going to bed.

Most of these men had a shortened sleep time during stage 2-4 of sleep on nights that they had consumed spicy meals. Stage 2 is known as the light phase where stage 3 and 4 are known as the deep phase of sleep. Not only did these men experience less sleep, but it also took them longer to drift off.

Both indigestion and a heightened elevated body temperature may account for these effects on sleeping patterns.