Eating Before Bed: Pros and Cons
There’s nothing quite like the big, delicious meal that you make yourself or a late-night chip bite, or dipping into a warm biscuit before going to getting ready for bed after a long and tiring day. However, is eating at night harmful to your health? Does it impact the loss of weight or trigger weight increase? What are the effects on your sleeping patterns? Experts discuss these topics and offer advice that can be conflicting.
The responses to these questions are different across the board from nutritionists to coaches to personal trainers and a lot of these experts do not agree on whether it is necessary to take a meal prior to going to you go to bed.
People who favor the side believe that a large meal can aid in falling to sleep and sleep for longer. A lot of people on the negative side believe that eating at night can lead to the accumulation of weight as well as heart disease and the presence of high levels blood sugar.
We at Leesa we’re all about sleep. It’s kind of our passion. To help you determine the advantages and disadvantages of eating a snack prior to bed, we’re revealing some tips and best methods for eating at night.
Pros of Eating Before Bed
Certain experts believe that eating a meal before bed is more beneficial than harmful and could benefit your health.
Fall Asleep Faster and Sleep Better
It’s no secret that we all have our favourite comfort foods: warm soup, mac’n’cheese and grilled cheese. We’re hungry just considering it. After you’ve had the food you love, there’s nothing more relaxing than laying on the couch with blankets as your perfect couch potato.
The coma-like feeling that comes with eating your favourite comfort food is also applicable to having an enormous dinner or a bedtime snack prior to bed.
There are some peopole who link eating food at night with more restful sleep. They say that if you take a bite of something before you go to bed the stomach will feel fuller, and you’ll get to sleep faster and stay asleep longer. In addition you won’t be hungry during the middle of the night.
We’re not suggesting you should smother yourself with your favourite foods and that it’s healthyfor you? Not quite. The meal you eat at night or for a snack should contain some nutritional worth. Try eating an apple with peanuts or almond butter, or avocado toast for a delicious, healthy late-night snack.
Cons of Eating Before Bed
Traditional wisdom says that it’s harmful to eat before going to bed. We have heard it from fitness trainers and read about in magazines, and even some nutritionists licensed to practice it. What is the reason?
Your Body Slows Down at Night
Many people believe that you have a lower metabolism while you sleep and this means that calories are burned off slower as well. (Side note: a number of experts believe that your metabolism will be just as active during sleep-we’re not here to provide medical advice, but just some suggestions).
Meal Sizes at Dinner
The evening is a moment when people are hungry which is why they are in habits of having a big dinner at night. This can trigger the cycle of overeating at the end of the day (and overeating all the time). Consider this: if you’re hungry before you go to bed then you’re less thirsty for breakfast. which means you’ll have less breakfast and eat an enviable lunch. At dinner you’re hungry, and you’ll eat greater amounts of calories than you need to (you may want to have another small meal or snack following dinner as well). If you can get your body’s system to consume more calories earlier during the day, it will be able to take longer to process and digest the calories. Additionally, you’ll feel less hungry by the time dinner comes around.
How Long Before Bed Should you Stop Eating?
What’s the policy in this case? Should you put off eating for thirty minutes prior to going bed after eating, just as your mother would always make you stand in the water after lunch? You should give yourself more time. Experts suggest taking at least three hours after having eaten before you sleep. This gives your body the time to digest the food, so that you don’t wake awake in the late at night with stomach upset or indigestion. It also helps prevent acid reflux. It also helps you to stay in bed.
Do not forgo a meal in order to observe this rule. There are times when life is unpredictable. If you don’t arrive home until 8:15 p.m. and you want to sleep at 10 p.m. You shouldn’t cut back on dinner simply because you don’t have three hours between dinner and time to go to bed. The 3-hour rule isn’t necessarily an absolute “must”– it’s just a rule of thumb to follow when you are able