Experts Answer: Why Do I Fart So Much at Night?

Let's be real: Farting can be uncomfortable, physically and figuratively (if you happen to let one rip in public). But are you routinely wondering, 'why am I so gassy at night?' or notice that you're gassier at night when you lay in bed? You're not alone, but that doesn't make it any less awful. Being gassy at night can not only mess with your sleep but — more #realtalk — also your sex life.

Rest assured that experts agree it's common to be gassy all of a sudden at bedtime. Now, go forth and learn why that is and more importantly, what to do about it.

Why Am I So Gassy At Night?

Your body is going through the natural digestion process.

First, you should understand how your body's digestive system works to break down and use food. "The healthy bacteria that live along your intestinal tract (to help us digest food) create gas all day and throughout the night, even during your sleep," says Christine Lee, M.D., a gastroenterologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Unsurprisingly, the largest volumes of gas are produced after meals. So if dinner is the largest meal of your day, it could also be the reason you're so gassy at night.

Even if you eat a super light dinner, there's another reason why you fart so much at night.

"At night, the bacteria in the gut has had all day to ferment what you've eaten," says Libby Mills, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. From ingestion to gas formation, the digestion process may take approximately six hours in a normal gut. Thus, you're likely to experience more gas later in the day because your lunch (and anything else you've eaten in the last six hours) is finishing being digested.

So, it's not that you're suddenly so gassy. "It has more to do with the accumulation of gas rather than the actual rate of gas production," says Dr. Lee.

There's yet another reason why you fart so much at night that doesn't have to do with what you've eaten. "Your autonomic nervous system maintains closure of the anal sphincter, especially during the daytime when you are very active and engulfed in daily activities," explains Dr. Lee. "This causes more gas to accumulate and become ready for release at night when your autonomic nervous system is less active and you (along with your anal sphincter) become more relaxed," says Dr. Lee. Yes, she's talking about farting in your sleep.

You Fart So Much at Night Thanks to Your Diet.

Of course, the foods you're putting into your body at night and throughout the day also play a major role in why you're so gassy all of a sudden. Tons of foods can make your gas worse, especially foods high in fiber. There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. While the insoluble kind stays close to its original form throughout digestion, it's the soluble kind that's more fermentable, and thus more likely to cause gas.

"Sources of soluble fiber include beans, lentils, and legumes, as well as fruits, especially apples and blueberries, and grains such as oats and barley," says Mills. And sources of insoluble fiber include whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, nuts, and vegetables like cauliflower, green beans, and potatoes.

"Since the human body does not break down fiber, we rely on the bacteria in our gut to do the job. The amount of gas produced from fermentation (of food in the gut) will depend on how developed a colony of bacteria is, based on how often we eat fibery foods to feed them," says Mills. So the more often you're eating those foods high in fiber, the healthier your gut microbiome is and the easier it will be able to digest.

But it may not just be the fiber itself that's making you so gassy at night. "Foods high in soluble fiber are also high in fructans and galactooligosaccharides, sugars that can't be digested by our guts (but rather rely on gut bacteria to do the digesting, making you more gassy and bloated)," says Melissa Majumdar, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Foods high in fructans include artichokes, onion, garlic, leeks, peas, soybeans, kidney beans, ripe banana, currants, dates, dried figs, grapefruit, plums, prunes, persimmons, white peaches, watermelon, rye, wheat, barley, cashews, pistachios, black beans, and fava beans.

In recent years, the low-FODMAP diet has gained popularity as a remedy to fight GI discomfort (yep, including gas and bloating) from a diet low in foods containing FODMAPs. FODMAP is an acronym that stands for poorly digested and fermentable sugars: Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols. This also includes the added fiber inulin, a fiber from chicory root often added to processed foods such as granola, cereals, or meal replacement bars to give them an extra fiber boost.

You can also improve the bacteria in your gut by eating more probiotics regularly. Probiotics promote regularity in the gut when it comes to digestion and should leave you feeling less gassy, says Dr. Lee.

The Timing of Your Eating Plays a Role, Too.

Besides food choice, how gassy you are in the morning, at night, or anytime just all of a sudden, may also be a result of how much you ate and when.

"I see people have trouble with evening digestion if they go long periods of time without eating and/or backload (if someone skips breakfast, eats a light lunch, and doesn't have any balanced snacks, dinner is going to be the majority of calories) and makes digestion more difficult," says Majumdar.

"If you don't eat or drink consistently throughout the day, the stomach can end up crampy and angry when a load of food hits it," so finding a consistent eating and drinking schedule is key, she says.

Even if you tend to eat your meals later or earlier than average (Dr. Lee suggests breakfast around 7 or 8 a.m., lunch around noon to 1 p.m., and dinner at 6 or 7 p.m. for a healthy digestion schedule), being consistent is the most important part. When you're irregular and inconsistent with your eating schedule, the body can't set a circadian rhythm, she adds.

And, unsurprisingly, your gut will really hate you if you cram in a ton of fiber-filled foods at dinner. "If the body is not used to large amounts of raw fruits and vegetables (and other food sources of fiber), it will have a hard time adapting," says Majumdar.

While women need a lot of fiber (25 grams per day, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, if you suddenly increase the amount of fiber you're getting every day too quickly, your gut will be sure to let you know.

You're Not Moving and Hydrating Enough.

"Exercise, exercise, exercise," says Dr. Lee. "Being physically active and physically fit is single-handedly the most effective way to keep your GI motility moving, as people with slower GI motility tend to suffer from constipation and or inefficient/incomplete defecation, which produces methane gas, resulting in excessive flatulence." Translation: Exercise can help you have healthier, more consistent poops and fart less. (And FYI, whether you're a fan of morning workouts or an evening sweat sesh probably doesn't make a difference when it comes to being gassy, she adds.)

Drinking lots of water also helps. Why? "Water is a magnet to fiber," says Majumdar. As fiber is digested, it absorbs water, which helps it pass through your digestive tract more easily. This also helps prevent constipation.

The bottom line on why you fart so much at night: While gas is a totally normal part of being human, if you're gassy in the morning or at night, or are just concerned about the amount of gas you have in general, consider talking to a pro. "No one knows your body better than you," says Dr. Lee. "If the amount of gas is concerning to you (i.e., new, more than your baseline, or escalating over time), then you should see a physician for evaluation. Then seeing a dietitian for healthy diet options and choices is always a great idea."