<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Tossing and turning in bed is no fun. I used to do a lot of that, but nowadays (and mostly because I&amp;#x27;m a hungry pregnant woman in my second trimester!), I have a small snack a few hours before bed--it may just be the key to restful sleep, say researchers. Details ... A new study published this week in the journal PLos Biology reports that a growling stomach may trigger the mind to stay active and awake. In their study, which examined fruit flies (I know, pretty far removed from humans, but still), they say that hunger seems to be a fuel for the mind, keeping it alert. &amp;quot;From an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense,&amp;quot; said study co-author Matt Thimgan, a Washington University postdoctoral researcher. &amp;quot;If you&amp;#x27;re starving, you want to make sure you&amp;#x27;re on the top of your game cognitively, to improve your chances of finding food rather than becoming food for someone else.&amp;quot; Now, a growling stomach doesn&amp;#x27;t amount to &amp;quot;starving,&amp;quot; but I know many women who claim they can&amp;#x27;t sleep if they feel hunger pangs before bedtime. And it&amp;#x27;s a controversial topic in the world of nutrition, actually. Some say that eating before bed impedes your body&amp;#x27;s natural fat-burning process. Others claim that food eaten in the evening has no impact on weight loss. My take? While a little hunger isn&amp;#x27;t bad for you, I tend to agree that a growling stomach can get in the way of sleep. Next time you&amp;#x27;re tossing and turning in bed, consider having a small bowl of cereal (and by small, I mean in a ramekin--keep it little, definitely not the size of that enormous bowl above!), and see if it helps the zzzzs come. Do you always eat a bedtime snack? If so, what&amp;#x27;s your snack of choice? More reading: *Trouble sleeping? 5 celebs to count sheep with--they can&amp;#x27;t sleep either! *In praise of sleeping in on the weekends: Why it&amp;#x27;s so good for you ... *Did you get enough sleep last night? The quick, funny test to determine your alertness level ... More Ways to Get Glamour Visit Shopglamour.com for cute stuff starting at just $10! Enter the latest Glamour sweepstakes! Follow us on Twitter Add us to your iGoogle homepage Photo: istock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2010/09/trouble-sleeping-have-a-snack->