Insomnia after eating out

[Guest Posts]

This is a bit strange but whenever I eat out at a chinese or have a chinese takeaway and after a thai meal once too, I have a really strange time when trying to get to sleep. I feel totally wired and then have awful nightmares. I've heard it could be something called MSG that they add to their food which can cause weird/symptoms feelings like this in some people. I always feel it at bedtime when trying to wind down or get to sleep and not in the day. Can MSG do this? It's put me off eating out

Rachel

[lisaartis]

Thanks for your email. MSGs can be added to Chinese food and some people have reported varying effects such as sweating, nausea etc though there is no concrete evidence. Some people are more sensitive to MSG and you may be one of those people.

Eating too close to bedtime can impact on sleep generally so we would always advise leaving 2-3 hours before bedtime after eating a big meal.