It’s late at night. You’re dead tired. You lie down in bed and close your eyes, wanting to get a goodnight sleep. You toss and turn, take on all the sleeping positions you love, and count sheep in your head… only to find that more than an hour has passed and you’re still wide awake. What’s wrong with you?

　　在深夜，你非常非常的累，躺在床上，闭上眼睛，想要进入睡眠。你翻来覆去，换了所有你喜欢的睡姿然后数绵羊...然而一个多小时过去了，你发现自己还是异常清醒。你怎么了?

　　Chances are, you probably ate something that’s keeping you up right before bedtime. If you don’t want to have insomnia come knocking into your bedroom, stay away from these 12 worst foods to eat at night. These are the kinds of foods that will prevent you from getting a shuteye and well-deserved rest.

　　原因可能是，你在睡觉前吃了一些使你睡不着的东西。如果你不想被失眠困扰，你需要在晚上避免以下12种糟糕的食物。这些食物会使你闭不上眼睛，也让你没有很好的睡眠。

　　1. Chocolate

　　1.巧克力

　　Chocolate has caffeine though, especially dark chocolate. Caffeine is normally found in the cacao pods used to make chocolate. It is the same thing present in coffee which gives you that morning jolt. It also contains another stimulant – theobromine. Theobromine causes your heart to race and will make sleeping difficult. The one type of chocolate you can eat at night is white chocolate. It does not contain theobromine and has little to no caffeine.

　　巧克力有咖啡因，特别是黑巧克力。用来制作巧克力的可可豆含有咖啡因，我们早上喝的咖啡也含有咖啡因。巧克力中还有另外一种兴奋剂——可可碱，可可碱会使你心跳加速导致很难入眠。有一种巧克力晚上可以吃，那就是白巧克力。白巧克力就不含可可碱，只有极少的咖啡因。

　　2. Spicy food

　　2.辣的食物

　　Digestion slows down during sleep. And because it takes extra effort for the body to digest spicy food, it will have a harder time doing so during sleep. It has also been suggested in some studies that eating spicy foods disrupts the sleep by causing nightmares. Avoid spicy meals at least two to three hours before going to bed.

　　在睡觉的时候，我们的消化开始慢下来，而消化辣的食物需要身体更多的能量，睡觉时是很难消化辣食的。也有研究表明辣的食物容易引起噩梦从而不利于睡眠质量。在睡觉之前的至少两到三小时要避免辣的食物。

　　3. Coffee

　　3.咖啡

　　It’s not surprising. Caffeine is specifically a central nervous system stimulant. It takes a total of 6 hours for your body to get rid of half the caffeine found in a cup of coffee. Drinking three 8 oz. cups of coffee in a day is deemed moderate but it is best that you avoid having a cup at least 12 hours before going to sleep.

　　咖啡不利于睡眠当然不奇怪。咖啡因是中枢神经系统的强效兴奋剂，一杯咖啡中的咖啡因含量需要你花6个小时来消化。人们认为一天喝3杯8盎司(小编注：星巴克小杯)的咖啡是适量的，但是最好在睡觉前的12小时都避免喝咖啡。

　　4. Alcoholic beverages

　　4.酒精饮料

　　Alcohol did enable healthy people to fall asleep faster and get deep sleep for some time. However, it reduces their rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the only phase during the sleep cycle when the body recovers and prepares itself for the waking part of the day. It is recommended to limit alcoholic beverage intake to 1 to 2 servings and to drink them 4 to 6 hours before bedtime. To ensure good sleep, it is best you avoid it.

　　酒精能让健康的人更快地进入睡眠，而且有时也会深度睡眠。然而，它会减少你的快速眼动睡眠(REM)，这是唯一能让身体充分恢复、为清醒地早晨做好准备的睡眠模式。建议限制酒精饮料的摄入量，并在睡前4〜6小时以上，1〜2份为宜。为了保证良好的睡眠，睡前不饮酒是最好的。

　　5. Fatty food

　　5.高脂肪食物

　　Scientists conducted a study at the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center. They found that foods high in fat may decrease the quality of sleep in humans. They placed rats on a high fat diet for 8 weeks to investigate its effects on sleep, carefully monitoring their sleep-wake cycle and comparing them to rats which were maintained on their regular diet. Results revealed that the sleep cycle of rats which were on a high fat diet turned for the worst. While these rats slept for longer periods than those on regular diet, they had more fragmented sleep and had difficulty staying awake during the day.

　　科学家们在明尼苏达大学和明尼阿波利斯退伍军人事务医疗中心做了一项研究，发现高脂肪的食物会导致人类的睡眠质量下降。科学家们为研究高脂食物是否会影响睡眠，用它们喂养小白鼠，详细记录它们的睡眠周期，然后与正常饮食的老鼠对比。最终发现食用高脂食物的老鼠的睡眠质量变得更差，睡眠时间更长，片断睡眠更多，且在白天时很难清醒。