Why eating late at night is bad for you?
By Is is bad to eat late at night?
While working late at night or binge watching our favourite TV shows, we often feel hunger pangs which mostly results in us consuming heavy or junk foods. Throughout the day, we try to eat healthy and nutritious food, but just one wrong meal at the wrong time spoils a whole day of hard work. All the protein rich-low carb diet that we follow, the exercise we do, and the calorie check that we keep, are ruined because of one meal.
If you are among those who often eat late at night, here is a look at why doing so is bad for you.
How much late is actually late?
Late is usually within 3 hours of you going to sleep. So, if you work throughout the day and usually sleep from 12am-8am your “late” would be 9pm-12am. At the end of the day, your body is going to metabolize whatever you put into it, and if you aren’t active enough to use up the energy you absorb from it, then it will be stored as fat which would eventually result in bad health.
Recent medical studies have shown that eating between the hours of 12pm-11pm resulted in higher levels of blood glucose, insulin and cholesterol, than eating between the hours of 8am-7pm. So, if your goal is to reduce your body fat or your cholesterol, it may be beneficial to try curbing your late night eating habits.
What are the effects of eating late?
There are 5 main effects of eating late at night, as mentioned below:
Disruption of sleep: People who eat late generally tend to sleep late. This results in a disturbed sleep cycle. Also, this could be the reason behind confusing dreams at night.
Poor digestion: When you eat a late night dinner, it leads to several gastric issues. This is because the food does not digests properly and results in excessive acid secretion in stomach.
Weight Gain: Your body’s metabolism slows down during night time. Also, it is not as effective in burning calories as it is during the day time. Thus, eating late leads to weight gain.