There are four staple rules in a diet lifestyle change: drink a lot of water, eat more fruits & veggies, exercise, and sleep more. Today, we will be talking about beauty sleep. Usually age will determined how much sleep is need. This chart is a rough estimate on how much sleep each age groups needs. Many doctors on WebMD believes that this is the average amount and people shouldn’t be sleeping any less than what the chart is recommending.
| Age | Average amount of sleep per day |
| Newborn | up to 18 hours |
| 1-12 months | 14–18 hours |
| 1-3 years | 12-15 hours |
| 3-5 years | 11-13 hours |
| 5-12 years | 9-11 hours |
| Adolescents | 9-10 hours |
| Adults, including elderly | 7-8 (+) hours |
| Pregnant women | 8 (+) hours |
There are many effects that happens to oneself when sleep deprived, like, lack of mental awareness/sharpness, increased accidents, and lack of sex drive. Also, not to mention the most important effect that lack of sleep does to your face, which is ugliness. They don’t call it beauty sleep for nothing. I’m kidding, lack of sleep doesn’t make people uglier, but it does age the face dramatically.
To ensure long deep sleep, here is 6 foods that should be avoided for a well balanced night of sleep.
1. Aged Cheese (most stinky cheese) like Parmesan or Asiago.
Who knew cheese could steal your Z’s?!? Aged Cheeses are filled with amino acid tyramine, which is a chemical that can be found in plant and animal. It is also the key ingredient in keeping people up at night. Cheese should be eaten no later than 3PM to insure all the amino acid tyramine to be out of the body before sleepy time.
2. Milk Chocolate
Say goodbye to those chocolate molten lava cakes. Actually, this should shock anyone that chocolate is a stimulant, in particularly milk chocolate. MC has tyrosine, which becomes into a type of dopamine. Some people after eating MC gain almost a euphoric sensation. Just like cheese, chocolate shouldn’t be eaten after lunch time (12PM). Sorry ladies, please don’t hate me.
3. Spicy Foods like Buffalo Wings or Thai Curry.
Spicy food is known to boost metabolism, but eating too much of it (depending on your body) may cause heartburn. Let’s be honest, heartburn can keep anyone up all night long. Luckily, modern medicine can help like antacids or Prevacid OTC. Personally, I take the generic brand CVS heartburn medication and it works wonderfully. For holistic heartburn remedies (disclaimer may not work for all):
a. Eating raw almonds
b. Drinking 2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar
4. Soy like soy sauce, tofu, miso
Just like aged cheese, soy has the highest amount of tyramine. A little soy during dinner time (7PM) will be okay, but the dinner is Japanese themed like in my house, well, be ready for a restful night. Honestly, I’ve been eating soy every night since I’ve been born and I’ve never really noticed it being a problem in the sleep department. Could I be immune?
5. Ginseng Tea
Teas are a great way to unwind and relax after a hard night of eating, but Ginseng is known to be a stimulant and acts a little bit like coffee. Most people don’t realize that all teas are not created equally. People who are sensitive to caffeine should not drink ginseng tea after 11AM, unless they want a long night of tossing and turning. Other people, usually coffee drinkers, can drink ginseng at night and still have a nice long sleep. So, this all depends on the person.
6. Processed or Smoked Meat
First off, we should be eating processed or smoked meat, but in a moment of weakness, don’t eat a deli sandwich and expect to be sleeping like a baby. Apparently, there is high levels of tyramine and makes the brain release a chemical that makes us feel alert. I don’t know about this one. I’ve experienced feeling sleepy after eating a hoagie.
There are many other things that can prevent a good night sleep, but for now we’ve tackled foods. A good rule of thumb, whatever Epic Meal Time is doing, do the exact opposite for a good night rest. Happy sleep time!
What keeps you up at night (food wise)?
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