My anxiety often kills my appetite earlier in the day so I tend to eat the majority of cals close to bedtime. Usually sugars (or carbs in general) seem to help sleep for me. I don't know if it helps sleep quality but carbs are of course known to cause sleepiness and if I fill up with sugars when I go piss during the night it keeps me asleep for longer it seems. I think there's a term called backloading where during a diet you schedule your allotted carbs close to bedtime?
I'm having extreme night terrors currently, to the point they feel unsettling for a good while after I've woken up. I hadn't thought about food affecting it, I'm going to make a mental note of it, thanks.
Yeah, I've heard of backloading. I know some people like to just eat protein feedings during the day, and then save their carbs for night. I've found for me about 50 grams of protein and 60-100g carbs for breakfast keeps me satisfied throughout the day and my hunger under control.
I did intermittent fasting for a while. What I always found hard was the morning time without eating because I would be starving in the morning. I stopped fasting every day and switched to a large breakfast (protein+carbs+minimal fats) and then a small snack if I'm hungry in the afternoon (protein+carbs or just fruit+ oats). I had no more issues with hunger.
Fasting taught me to not worry about getting hungry and it helped me handle going long periods without eating if I ever had to.
When I dropped fats throughout the week, that's when all my cravings for foods went away finally. I think the fats were causing blood sugar spikes. On weekends I have some fats like avocados, egg yolks, butter, and red meat (sometimes). The few times I've had a large meal right before bed, like pizza, I had horrible nightmares and sleep paralysis. It's also very hard for me to wake up the morning after. When I don't eat before bed, I'm able to pop out of bed immediately, sometimes without an alarm.