When you go to bed at night, you need to follow a few steps and try not to bring your worries to bed. Achieving restful sleep so that you can wake up active the next day is not only achieved by resting your head on a pillow or mattress. It’s not so automatic.

It is useless to go to sleep if you have previously unknowingly engaged in “harmless” activities that compromise sleep and take their toll – as if that were not enough – on another part of your body: the abdomen, where fat accumulates.

You won’t believe that there are at least five habits that you have to give up in order to maintain your figure and sleep.

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Before going to bed, pay close attention to your habits. Photo: Pexels

Nighttime habits that make you fat

1. Do you eat dinner very late?

The phrase was a recurring piece of advice: “Dinner two or three hours before going to bed.” In Semana, they point out that “experts advise having dinner between seven and eight in the evening, so that, in addition to resting before going to bed, the body does not gain weight”.

What to eat also affects. And there are recommendations like these offered by Business Insider.

Take note: “Heavy dinners, high in fat or with ingredients such as cheese, red meat or fried foods can cause digestive problems, gastroesophageal reflux, nightmares, anxiety and poorer sleep quality.”

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It is better to leave the coffee to drink in the office and not be the first drink when you wake up.

2. Coffee consumption

There are those who do not fall asleep if they drink coffee in the afternoon. Others do not have this problem and even if they take it an hour before going to bed, they do not experience insomnia.

For the former, Business Insider advises not to try coffee after noon. They cite a study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine and note that coffee can wreak “havoc on your rest, affecting sleep patterns and weight gain.”

3. Milk, go to sleep?

There is a strong theme, as you can see, with what you consume. If you’re one of those “whole milk at night, you’ll be adding a lot of extra calories to your diet, which could result in an increase in stubborn belly fat.”

Forget chatting and browsing photos, videos or networks when you’re on your way to the arms of Morpheus, the god of sleep. Photo: Istock

4. What to do with the mobile phone

According to Seguros La Caja, several studies agree that “the light emitted by screens disrupts the proper functioning of a hormone called melatonin, which is responsible for regulating the daily sleep cycle.”

This hormone is released in the dark, they claim. Then there is a disturbance of the biological clock. And, according to Business Insider, “an awake brain often looks for sugar and refined carbohydrates (…), and hormonal and metabolic imbalances occur.”

In many parts of the world, spending hours sitting in front of the television has become one of the main activities of daily life.

5. Turn off the TV?

Watching series or soap operas until dawn is the practice of many, especially on weekends. Watching television productions makes you “eat unhealthy snacks, adding calories and saturated fat to your diet,” reminds Business Insider.

Do you do any of these when you go to sleep or when you are already in bed? Analyze these suggestions if you notice disturbances in sleep and consequent rest… a bigger belly will also put you on alert.