EATING BEFORE GOING TO BED WILL NOT MAKE YOU FAT - SEE WHY

You’ll find a lot of articles out there saying that eating before you sleep should be avoided at all costs. But many people still do it. I usually have dinner late, many days I would eat my dinner at 10 pm or 11 pm, only 2-3 hours before going to sleep. Am I doing something wrong?

👉 The first question we need to ask is: does metabolism slow down before sleep? This argument is often used when approaching this subject. According to scientific research, the answer is no, it doesn't. Our body burns calories 24 hours/day, including during the time when we are asleep. So long we stay within the number of calories we would normally consume throughout the day, the body will not store the food intake as fat. Any addition to our regular caloric intake will result in weight gain, even if we eat it at 7 am in the morning or at 11pm in the night.

👉Another argument against eating before sleep that is often mentioned is the fact that eating carbs before we sleep could spike insulin levels. However, we don't have enough evidence that this is actually happening. According to WebMD, 'Researchers analyzed three years of health data from more than 1,550 healthy middle-aged and older adults in Japan. Two-thirds were over 65. About 16 percent of men and 7.5 percent of women fell asleep within two hours of dinner. Over the three years, there was no significant change in participants' HbA1c levels -- a long-term measure of average blood glucose that is considered a reliable indicator of future health risks.' Thus this is not an argument backed by science.

👉The last argument that’s often presented is that it can potentially cause indigestion due to the position of the body. However, I am not talking about cases in which you eat and then 5 minutes later you go to bed. Most people will be awake at least one hour or two before their last meal. And indigestion is mostly caused by overeating or eating a heavy meal, which can happen regardless of the hour when you go to bed.

👌 To conclude, eating before going to bed is not causing weight gain. Weight gain happens when we eat in a caloric surplus so if you do eat an addition of calories before you go to sleep you will gain weight but the cause itself is the extra calories you’ve added to your diet, not the timing when you’ve ate those foods.

✅ ONE INTERESTING BENEFIT OF EATING BEFORE SLEEP

🟢 In fact, there might be some pro arguments on why you should in fact ear before sleep. One of the pros of eating before bed includes sleeping better. Some experts correlate eating at night with better sleep and they are related to Tryptophan and Melatonin.

 🟢According to WebMD, tryptophan is an essential amino acid that cannot be produced by the human body and must be obtained through your diet, primarily from animal or plant-based protein sources. Tryptophan plays a role in the production of serotonin, a mood stabilizer that also helps regulate sleep patterns.

 🟢Melatonin is the hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle. As mentioned by WebMD, this unique hormone is produced by the pineal gland, located in the middle of the brain, and functions with the rhythms of the sun. More melatonin is made when the sun goes down, and less when the sun comes up.