Overeating before the bedtime increases the risk of indigestion and heartburn, resulting in restlessness and sleeplessness. Eating late also sends a message to the brain to keep active that further prevents the body from powering down.
So when exactly should you stop eating at night? Scientists can't agree on a single set time, but the consensus seems to be within three hours before bedtime. So if you go to bed at 11 p.m., don't eat after 8 p.m.
Benefits of early dinner
Experts suggest that dinner should be eaten within 7 pm. Eating an early and light dinner helps to improve sleep, improves digestion, boosts metabolism and also reduces blood pressure, keeping you healthy. Most health problems can be solved in a jiffy if we only start to eat our dinner early.
Myth: You Shouldn't Eat After 7 P.M.
“However, there's no magic to the 7 p.m. time,” Dobbins says. “Losing weight is a matter of limiting our calorie intake, and most people tend to eat most of their calories in the evening, at dinner and snacking afterward.
Besides the extra calories, eating too close to bedtime can have other health implications such as digestive issues. When sleeping, our digestion naturally slows down as our metabolism enters a resting state. Lying down in bed immediately after eating can lead to symptoms such as indigestion, acid reflux and heartburn.
It's best to stop eating about three hours before going to bed. That allows plenty of time for your body to digest the last food you ate so it won't disrupt your sleep, but leaves a small enough window before sleep that you won't go to bed feeling hungry.
New study provides experimental evidence that late eating may increase hunger, obesity risk. Obesity afflicts approximately 42 percent of the U.S. adult population and contributes to the onset of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and other conditions.
Cons to eating before bed include poor sleep, slower metabolism, eating more, unhealthy choices, acid reflux, indigestion, and heartburn, and health risks.
If you eat too much and exercise too little, you're likely to carry excess weight — including belly fat. Also, your muscle mass might diminish slightly with age, while fat increases.
There's no set time you should stop eating to lose belly fat, but, as a guideline, you should avoid eating two to three hours before bed to stop it from disrupting your sleep and body clocks, which can cause belly fat gain. Studies show early dinners can help people lose weight.
Lunch is generally eaten between 12:00 noon and 2:00pm. Many people eat out, grabbing a quick meal or snack such as a bowl of noodles, Korean pancakes, or Chinese food. Dinner is generally eaten between 6:00pm and 8:00pm. It generally an informal meal with meat or fish, rice.
The ones that ate irregularly, however, took a longer time to heal and had more residual damage. When we eat late at night, the circadian rhythm of our skin cells is disrupted. As a result, the release of skin repairing enzymes is delayed and/or decreased. Skin then cannot recover as quickly from UV damage.
By not eating after 7, you give your body time to begin digestion before you go to bed. This lessens the chance of indigestion or heartburn when you lay down. It also means you won't be spiking your blood sugar right before bed, which can cause a fitful night's sleep.
Will Sleeping After Eating Make You Fat? No, sleeping after meals will not necessary make you fat. While it may seem like eating before bedtime would lead to weight gain because you are not burning off the calories you've consumed.
Aside from causing belly fat, eating late and reclining on a full stomach increases your risk of developing acid reflux and indigestion, since gravity is no longer able to pull everything in your tummy straight down.
“Eat after 8, and you'll gain weight” has a nice ring to it, but it's not true. It is based on the myth that the body cannot properly metabolize food during sleep. However, the body has intricate systems of metabolizing, storing, and using energy from food.
You definitely don't need to go to bed hungry, and there is nothing wrong with a nighttime snack. However, eating a big meal right before bed can make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. A large meal that is high in calories causes your body temperature to rise as you digest.