Eat dinner at 5pm for better health, digestion, sleep: the experts

It’s about time – experts suggest that eating your evening meal within a set two-hour window can promote weight loss, improve sleep and aid digestion.

Known as the “early bird approach”, timing your last meal of the day between 5pm and 7pm allows you to align with your body’s natural circadian rhythm. This rhythm affects metabolism, digestion and hormonal release, peaking during the daytime hours and slowing as the evening begins.

Eating too late disrupts this rhythm and can wreak havoc on sleep, digestion and mood.

“We know that when people eat later at night, they have a higher risk of obesity,” Tara Schmidt, a registered dietitian at the Mayo Clinic Diet, told Fortune last month.

A 2022 study published in Cell Metabolism found that people who ate their main meal around 5 pm burned more calories than those who ate dinner later.

Eat four hours before you hitting the hay gives you time to take an after-dinner walk, or “fart walk,” as some call it.

Digestion is better “when light is present and the body is active,” Schmidt told Fortune. “You’re going to have lower blood sugar levels because your blood sugar went up during that meal. But now that you’re exercising, it’s going to go back down.”

Persistent high blood sugar is the defining characteristic of diabetes.

Waiting too late to eat dinner can also make heartburn or acid reflux worse.

A 2023 study found that those who eat dinner after 9pm are 28% more likely to have a stroke.

For every hour after 8 p.m. that a study participant ate their dinner, their likelihood of having a stroke, or a transient ischemic attack, in which the blood supply to the brain is briefly cut off, decreased. increased by 8%.

Beyond mealtimes, foods high in fat or acid, caffeine, and spicy flavors are more likely to cause indigestion and heartburn, making it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Foods that promote better sleep tend to have a good balance of protein, fiber and complex carbohydrates.

Research has also proven that how we eat our food is just as important as what and when we eat it.

Studies suggest that the more we chew, the better we feel.

Experts say that slow, deliberate chewing has benefits for weight loss, helping people know when they are full and curbing overeating. Being aware of the food in your mouth forces you to eat more mindfully, which is key to really enjoying it—and knowing when you’re full.