People who go to bed late and wake up late can often experience health problems because their body clock does not align with the regular rhythms of modern society. However, a new study suggests that a few easy routine adjustments could go a long way for night owls.

In folklore, the witching hour or devil’s hour is a time of night, typically between 3 and 4 am, that is associated with supernatural events, whereby witches, demons and ghosts are thought to appear and be at their most powerful.

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — The “3 A.M. Challenge” is the latest social media trend taking over the Internet. It encourages kids to wake up during the middle of the night, leave their rooms in search of paranormal activity, and post their findings in a video online.

People are most likely to be at their sleepiest at two points: between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. The better the quality of sleep you get, the less likely you are to experience significant daytime sleepiness. Circadian rhythm also dictates your natural bedtime and morning wakeup schedules.

Sleep calculator

Here’s why that’s bad: When your body doesn’t respond properly to insulin, your body has trouble processing fats from your bloodstream, so it ends up storing them as fat. So it’s not so much that if you sleep, you’ll lose weight, but that too little sleep hampers your metabolism and contributes to weight gain.

Do you go to bed too late and get up too early? Or is the problem that your sleep isn’t restful? If you don’t get good, restorative sleep, your body might not feel rested and could kick-start that cortisol surge, which could put you at risk for more acne.

How to cope

• whole grain cereal with low‐fat milk.
• plain Greek yogurt with fruit.
• a handful of nuts.
• whole wheat pita with hummus.
• rice cakes with natural peanut butter.
• apples with almond butter.
• a low-sugar protein drink.
• hard-boiled eggs.

Here are the 9 best foods and drinks you can have before bed to enhance your quality of sleep.

1. Almonds. Almonds are a type of tree nut with many health benefits.
2. Turkey. Turkey is delicious and nutritious.
3. Chamomile tea.
4. Kiwi.
5. Tart cherry juice.
6. Fatty fish.
7. Walnuts.
8. Passionflower tea.

Nighttime eating may be the result of overly restricted daytime food intake, leading to ravenous hunger at night. It may also be caused by habit or boredom. However, nighttime eating has also been linked to some eating disorders, including binge eating disorder and night eating syndrome ( 1 , 2 , 3 ).

Five worst foods for sleep

• Chocolate. High levels of caffeine in chocolate make it a poor choice for late-night snacking.
• Cheese. While cheese is generally considered a comfort food, it is actually one of the worst foods to eat before bed.
• Curry.
• Ice cream.
• Crisps.
• Cherries.
• Raw honey.
• Bananas.

If you’re truly hungry late at night — rather than just bored or stressed — eating a snack under 200 calories shouldn’t tip the scales. Whole, minimally processed foods like berries, kiwis, goji berries, edamame, pistachios, oatmeal, plain yogurt and eggs make easy, tasty and healthy late-night snacks.

“A general recommendation is to stop eating about two hours before bed to give your body time to digest and work off some of that energy,” Bede says. “But if you’re hungry, you need to answer that call. It’s your body’s way of saying it’s a little low on energy.”

How many hours of sleep are enough for good health?

Physiologically, calories don’t count for more at night. You won’t gain weight by merely eating later if you eat within your daily calorie needs. Still, studies show that nighttime eaters typically make poorer food choices and eat more calories, which can lead to weight gain.

It’s important to drink enough water during the day, however, it can be disruptive if you drink directly before bed. Avoid drinking water or any other fluids at least two hours before sleeping to prevent waking up at night.