Evening snacks = bad sleep?

I’m experimenting with this idea over the next week. 

I have not had good quality of sleep for the past, oh, say, 5 years.  I find it hard to get to sleep, and when I finally get to sleep, it’s disturbed – I wake up frequently and find it hard to get to sleep again afterwards. 

I thought that when I started exercising again it would be somehow miraculously fixed, but this hasn’t been the case.  There have been a few nights when I’ve slept well, but others – like last night – when my usual sleep patterns prevailed.

Yesterday, it occurred to me that my evening snacks might be causing the problem.  I am usually only filling in my calories for the day of a late afternoon, and I’m finding that by the time I add up my day’s total, I have a few (like 2 or 3 hundred) to expend after I’ve had my dinner.  So I’ve taken to having some evening snacks.  Usually, a couple of biscuits or a couple of rows of chocolate.  Last night the snack was some Maltesers.   

So now I’m wondering if these late night (about 9 pm-ish) snacks are causing the poor sleep. 

So this week, I will be endeavouring to fit in those calories during the day with healthier snack options:  fruit and the like.  Or maybe upping my protein intake.

And see if my sleep improves …