My children grew up.
I started to have trouble with weight gain.
I stopped making and eating desserts.
I still eat desserts occasionally, but it’s an unusual event: somewhat less than once a month. Over the last couple of years, though, I’ve noticed that eating a sweet, fatty dessert at bedtime has a profound effect on my sleep. I don’t really have sleep problems, but I do get up often to pee and sometimes stay up for an hour or two reading or writing columns for some obscure web site. After I’ve eaten a bedtime dessert, though, I’m much more likely to sleep through the night with, perhaps, 1-2 quick bathroom trips. The sleep seems deeper and more refreshing.
I can’t think of a good physiologic explanation, nor have I tried to discern whether it’s the fat or sugar or the combination that has the effect. I can say that it doesn’t take much dessert — very small servings still seem to have a salutary effect. Just eating a large dinner doesn’t do it. It’s also worth noting that there’s a good chance that there are confounding factors: the very fact that I’m eating dessert usually means that I’ve had some kind of special day which might translate to being more tired for any one of a number of reasons.
I’ll just have to do more research, I suppose.
—2p