People often make the same mistakes when it comes to food before they go to sleep, an expert has warned.
According to Kirsten Holmes, principal scientist at sports brand WHOOP, many of us are sabotaging our chances of a good night’s sleep by eating too late in the evening. She suggests leaving a “two hour buffer” between our last meal and bedtime.
Speaking on Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s Feel Better, Live More podcast, she also advised that we should consume most of our calories while it’s still daylight, as our bodies process insulin more efficiently during the day.
She emphasised the importance of having larger, nutrient-rich meals earlier in the day, stating: “You want to eat a bulk of your calories when it is still light out. And then after the sun goes down, we’re really not meant to be eating food, we’re not primed to metabolise food.
“We know from studies that have looked at insulin at different points of the day that we become way more insulin resistant as the day progresses. So you want to have a big nutrient dense meal early in the day.”
She stressed the importance of breakfast and lunch, saying: “Breakfast is so important, especially for women who need to be eating breakfast. Lunch is really important, we want to get tons of protein, lots of veggies, this is when we are really primed to metabolise.
“As the day progresses we want to decrease our calorie intake, preparing for sleep. Once we fall asleep, what’s happening mechanistically is that you have a competition between digestion and sleep.”
While eating a hefty meal close to bedtime might not stop you from nodding off, Kirsten warns it can significantly cut down on your daily “deep sleep”. This deep sleep, or slow wave sleep, is crucial for physical healing, hormone regulation, and growth, according to the NHS.
Kirsten further explained: “You’ll still fall asleep but it’s like alcohol, you’re asleep but you’re not in these deeper stages of sleep. And that’s what we see in the data, we see that these late meals are compromising these deeper stages of sleep.
“People are spending more time in light sleep to the tune of 30 to 50 minutes. So this is a meaningful amount of time awake and there’s an average decrease in sleep efficiency by up to 17 percent when folks are reporting late meals.”
The NHS recommends that the average adult should clock in around seven to nine hours of sleep a day. However, factors such as age, health, and personal circumstances can alter the amount of sleep we require.