How Soon Can You Go to Bed After You Eat?
Think twice before you rip open that bag of chips as you settle down to watch your favorite late-night TV show. Although it's a myth that eating before bed will automatically lead to weight gain, poor dietary habits in the evening can indeed result in fat gain. What's more, eating before bed has the potential to negatively affect your sleep.
A Calorie Is a Calorie
It's a myth that evening or late-night eating automatically leads to weight gain, because evening calories don't count more than daytime calories. Weight gain takes place when your caloric intake exceeds your caloric expenditure over the course of the day. If the latter is greater than the former, even after a late-night snack, you won't gain weight. If the calories you eat before bed push you from being in a caloric deficit to a caloric excess, however, you'll gain weight.
Watch What You Eat
The misunderstanding that you'll gain weight by eating late might be tied to the types of food people typically eat before bed. Even if you make healthy dietary choices throughout the day, it's easy to reach for high-calorie snacks such as chips, cookies or sweets while watching TV in the evening. Columbia University's Go Ask Alice website recommends limiting your evening meals and snacks to reduce your chance of weight gain. The website suggests eating small meals throughout the day to avoid hunger before bed.
Eat a Few Hours Before Bed
In a health column in "The Globe and Mail" newspaper, dietitian Leslie Beck recommends eating your last large meal of the day no later than two to three hours before you go to bed. If you're up late and it's been four to five hours since your last large meal, eat a small snack leading to bedtime. Beck recommends snacks that digest quickly, such as a piece of fruit. Avoid beverages such as coffee and alcohol in the evening, as they can harm the quality of your sleep.
Risks of Late Eating
If you eat too close to bedtime, especially if you eat high-fat foods, you might experience bloating that can make it difficult to sleep soundly. Food before bed can also lead to discomfort if you have gastrointestinal reflux disease. Also, a late meal might make you feel less hungry in the morning. Skipping breakfast, however, can lead you to reach for unhealthy snacks later in the morning or overeat at lunch.
Toronto-based journalist William McCoy has been writing since 1997, specializing in topics such as sports, nutrition and health. He serves as the Studio's sports and recreation section expert. McCoy is a journalism graduate of Ryerson University.