What are the consequences of sleeping when you are full?

Lying down immediately after a meal, food or liquid in the stomach may reflux and be inhaled into the lungs, leading to pneumonia. In addition, when people sleep, the nerve reaction is weakened and the gastric acid secretion is increased, which will further increase the chance of aspiration. In addition, gastric acid is acidic, while esophagus is alkaline, which will corrode esophagus for a long time, causing esophageal diseases and even esophageal cancer.

When people go to sleep, the activity rhythm of some parts of the body begins to slow down and enter a state of rest. If you eat before going to bed, the gastrointestinal, liver, spleen and other organs will be busy again, which will not only increase your burden, but also make other organs not get enough rest. The functional area of the cerebral cortex responsible for the digestive system will also be excited and often have nightmares after falling asleep.

Extended information 1. Avoid using your brain before going to bed: If you have the habit of working and studying at night, do something with your brain first, and then do something more relaxed, so that you can relax and fall asleep easily. Otherwise, if the brain is in an excited state, it is difficult to fall asleep even when lying in bed, and it is easy to form insomnia after a long time.

Second, avoid excitement before going to bed: people's emotions can easily cause excitement or disorder in the nerve center, making it difficult for people to fall asleep and even cause insomnia. So try to avoid exultation, anger or anxiety before going to bed and let your mood stabilize. If you can't sleep because of mental stress or emotional excitement, please take a supine position, put your hands under your navel, lick your palate with your tongue, relax yourself, and keep swallowing body fluids while producing fluid in your mouth. In a few minutes, you will fall asleep.

Third, avoid talking before going to bed: As the saying goes: Eat without talking, sleep without talking. Because when people talk, it is easy to make the brain excited and active, thus affecting sleep. Therefore, people should not talk too much before going to bed.

Fourth, avoid sleeping on your back: the best way to sleep is to lie to the right, so that the whole body bones and muscles are in a natural state of relaxation, easy to fall asleep and easy to eliminate fatigue. Lying on your back will make the whole body bones and muscles in a state of tension, which is not conducive to eliminating fatigue. Moreover, due to the influence of hands on your chest on breathing, it is easy to cause nightmares, thus affecting the quality of sleep.

References:

People's Daily Online-Health Alert: Sleeping after meals will hurt the lungs.