The reason why you feel nauseous at night is because your body has been deprived of food during the day. You are hungry and need to eat something but it’s hard to get hold of anything since there isn’t much around. Your stomach is full and still needs some nourishment so you start vomiting which makes you feel better temporarily. However, if this continues then eventually your stomach will explode from lack of nutrients and you’ll throw up everything in sight!
What causes evening nausea?
There are several possible reasons why you feel nauseous at night:
Your body is trying to digest certain foods which have been sitting out too long. If you haven’t eaten anything since late afternoon or even early evening then your digestive system may not be able to handle them properly.
This means that they won’t be digested well and you’ll end up throwing up.
You’re dehydrated. If you’ve had water before lunchtime then you might be feeling very thirsty and thirsty doesn’t necessarily mean that you want to vomit.
Water helps flush out toxins in your body and therefore prevents vomiting.
Your liver is working overtime, which means it’s producing excess amounts of enzymes which are causing problems with digestion.
What causes nausea during pregnancy?
There are several possible reasons why you feel nauseous during pregnancy:
Your body is producing new hormones which can cause increased nausea.
Your baby is pressing on your stomach or digestive tract and this causes nausea.
You’re more tired during the day and this can affect your eating habits. When you wake up during the night you tend to feel hungry, so you eat but don’t digest it properly because you’re asleep.
You have low blood pressure and this can cause dizziness.
What can I do to stop feeling nauseous?
You can try the following:
Eat a small amount of crackers or toast before you go to bed. You’ll feel less hungry during the night and this ought to help you get some sleep.
Try eating more at lunchtime and remember to stay hydrated. This will help your body digest food better, so you’re not as hungry during the night.
Don’t stand up too quickly from a seated position. Make sure you get up slowly.
This will help prevent dizziness.
If you wake up during the night and begin to feel nauseous then lie down immediately. Don’t try to stand up because you could pass out, which is dangerous for your baby.
Don’t lie in bed trying to go back to sleep. Get up and move around instead, this helps most women.
It’s important to remember that vomiting a few times won’t hurt you or your baby. However, if you continue to feel nauseous during the day then make sure you mention this to your doctor, just so that they can rule out anything serious.
You’ll find a lot more information about nausea and vomiting during pregnancy in this article.
Feeling nauseous while pregnant can be very frustrating but usually it means your body is trying to tell you something so it’s best not to ignore these warnings.
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Sources & references used in this article:
Women’s responses to nausea and vomiting in pregnancy by L Locock, J Alexander, L Rozmovits – Midwifery, 2008 – Elsevier
Common sense representations of common illnesses. by RR Lau, KA Hartman – Health psychology, 1983 – psycnet.apa.org
Euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis: a potential complication of treatment with sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibition by AL Peters, EO Buschur, JB Buse, P Cohan… – Diabetes …, 2015 – Am Diabetes Assoc
