If you occasionally have trouble sleeping, the problem could be as simple as adjusting what you eat before bed. Eating certain foods at night, such as leafy greens, yogurt or fruit, has been shown to help improve your sleep quality, while other comfort foods and drinks can sabotage your shut-eye.

These detrimental-to-sleep snacks include donuts, sandwiches with white bread, chocolate or alcoholic beverages. Below is a list of the worst foods to eat at night. It's best to avoid as many as you can in order to fall asleep faster tonight.

Certain foods can keep you up at night, usually due to their glycemic index, caffeine amount, fat content or sugar. Skip these foods if you want a better night's sleep.

Chocolate  

Chocolate, a common comfort food, is first on the list of worst foods to eat at night. Reaching for that piece of chocolate cake might be tempting after a stressful day. However, chocolate has a bit of caffeine in it, so it counts as one of the foods that keeps you awake. According to the USDA, 100 grams of dark chocolate contains 43 milligrams of caffeine. To put that into perspective, an average cup of Joe has around 95 milligrams. Chocolate is also high in sugar, which can send your blood sugar levels surging right before bed, negatively affecting sleep.

Chili peppers

Another type of food to avoid before bed is anything spicy. Spicy foods can significantly worsen heartburn, and the digestive issues caused by spicy food can make it more challenging to fall asleep.

Work to eliminate foods containing chili peppers close to bedtime, including spicy condiments like sriracha or spicy wing sauce. In general, try to avoid spicy meals, as many of these dishes contain some form of chili pepper to give them that kick.

White bread

Eating white bread may be tempting late at night as you fix a quick sandwich before bed. However, white bread is a high glycemic index food, meaning it spikes your blood sugar levels right after eating it. Any food with refined carbs can send your blood sugar soaring, leading to sleep disturbances since your blood sugar crashes later on at night and might wake you up.

Ice cream

Ice cream has a double whammy of having high amounts of sugar and fat. A 100-gram serving of vanilla ice cream has 11 grams of fat and 21.2 grams of sugar, according to the USDA. As mentioned, sugar can immediately spike blood sugar levels, disrupting sleep.

High amounts of fat can also negatively affect sleep patterns. Fat takes longer to digest. On top of that, the digestive system slows while we sleep, and hard-to-digest food can lead to discomfort that keeps us awake.

Alcohol

You might be tempted to reach for a drink before bed to wind down. But drinking alcohol right before bed can have the opposite effect if you're looking to get a good night's sleep. You may initially fall asleep faster by drinking alcohol to relax. However, changes to your blood alcohol level throughout the night can lead to sleep disturbances, and heavy alcohol use is strongly linked to insomnia. You can also check out our guide to the three drinks you should avoid before bed.

Donuts

Donuts can feel like an excellent comfort food, especially after a stressful day. However, they have a high sugar content that can raise and crash blood sugar levels, leading to sleep problems. On top of that, donuts tend to be made with processed carbs, so you're introducing the same problem as white bread on top of the sugar: a glycemic index that sends your blood sugar on a nightly sleep-disrupting rollercoaster.

Fast food

If it's been a long day or you're finishing a night out, stopping for some fast food before bed might be tempting. However, fast foods like burgers tend to have a high fat count. That greater fat intake can slow down an already slowing digestive system at night, leading to digestive discomfort. On top of that, fast food is very processed, which can negatively affect sleep quality by leading to insomnia.

Fried chicken

Similar to the fast food problem, fried chicken carries the issue of having too much fat. According to the USDA, a fried chicken wing piece contains over 20 grams of fat per 100 grams. In addition to being difficult to digest right before bed, high-fat foods may worsen acid reflux symptoms, making it harder to sleep at night. You may want to opt for a lean, grilled breast piece instead or any of these other foods to help you sleep.

Candy

Candy, in general, is a bad idea right before bed. The high sugar amounts in candy introduce that blood sugar spike right as you're trying to wind down. It's also common for candy to contain chocolate, so you're risking consuming caffeine right before bed.

Saturated and trans-fats are also common in candy. Fat is already harder to digest, and unhealthy fats can lead to insomnia. For instance, a Snickers Cruncher bar has more than 24 grams of fat per 100 grams, higher than a fried chicken wing.

Bacon  

There may be a reason why bacon is commonly considered a breakfast food. The high fat content makes it hard to digest right before bed. A serving of 100 grams of bacon has a whopping 37 grams of fat. That makes it a nightmare to eat right before bed if you're prone to acid reflux. The fat content makes bacon a hard-to-digest food when your digestive system is already slowing down as you sleep.

Rather than consume these foods high in sugar, fat and caffeine before bed, check out our article on the best foods to eat for better sleep.