What happens if you eat at night

This results in higher chances of depression and anxiety. Increase in blood pressure: Eating and sleeping late at night could also lead to hypertension and diabetes. Even after trying a lot, or due to a long day at work, if you are feeling hungry way past your normal dinner time, here are some guidelines to go about for it.

Your hunger might be something else in disguise. Therefore always ask yourself: am I hungry? Stay away from carbohydrates: This will help to avoid large increases in blood sugar levels, giving the body less chance to store that excess blood sugar as fat.

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Go to TOI. The Times of India. Never say these things to a LEO. Is number 13 really unlucky? Portugal makes it illegal for bosses to call employees after work. Before eating at bedtime or in the middle of the night, stop to ask yourself if you're actually hungry or if you just want to snack out of boredom or stress, per the Cleveland Clinic.

If you're actually hungry, eat a light snack to tide you over until morning. Nutrition Nutrition Basics Healthy Eating. Karen Gardner. Karen Gardner is a professional writer and editor based in Maryland. She has a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland. She is an experienced Health Writer and Editor. She has also chronicled her personal experiences in endurance sports, including marathon running and long-distance cycling.

A late-night snack of processed foods like pizza could give you acid reflux or contribute to weight gain. Video of the Day. Tip What happens when you eat late at night?

Your Weight Might Go Up. Your Digestion May Suffer. Spicy foods High-fat foods like fries or baked goods Chocolate Coffee Alcohol. Your Blood Sugar Might Change. Snacks to avoid around bedtime include:. White bread and pasta Baked goods Chips Sweet potatoes. Eating late regularly conditions your body to store the calories as fat, which leads to weight gain. This can also give you problems like indigestion and heartburn.

Those who eat dinner at least two hours before bed have a reduced risk of cancer. Also, read: What happens when you skip dinner? Eating dinner early gives your body more time to stabilize blood sugar levels, which plays a role in making you feel less fatigued and irritable.

Moreover, eating early gives you more energy to perform activities before bed. If you eat food just before getting into bed, food is not digested properly as lying down causes many problems like acid reflux, gas, bloating, or abdominal pain. All these problems are symptoms of indigestion, and the more gap you leave between dinner and sleep, the better your digestive system functions. This extreme hunger can cause a cycle of eating too much before bed, then being too full to eat much the next morning, and again becoming overly hungry before bed the next evening 9.

This cycle, which can easily lead to overeating and weight gain, highlights why many individuals should eat balanced meals during the day. Instead, weight gain can be caused by bedtime snacking, which increases your caloric intake. Eating before bed can cause weight gain because of habits like eating while watching TV or consuming too many extra calories before bed.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease GERD is a common condition that affects It happens when gastric contents such as stomach acid splash back into your throat If you have any of these symptoms, you may want to avoid eating before bed because lying down makes it much easier to regurgitate Additionally, you might want to avoid drinking or eating anything containing caffeine, alcohol, tea, chocolate, or hot spices.

All of these foods can aggravate symptoms. People who have acid reflux should not eat anything for at least 3 hours before bedtime. They may also want to avoid trigger foods, which can cause symptoms to worsen.

While eating before bed may not be the best idea for some people, it can benefit others — it may actually curb nighttime eating and aid weight loss. Some evidence suggests that, rather than causing weight gain, eating a bedtime snack may help some people lose weight. In one 4-week study of adults who were night-snackers, participants who began eating one bowl of cereal and milk 90 minutes after dinner ate an average of fewer calories per day Ultimately, participants lost an average of 1.

This study suggests that adding a small after-dinner snack may help night-snackers feel satisfied enough to eat less than they would otherwise. Over time, it may also have the possible benefit of weight loss.

Getting enough sleep is very important, and sleep deprivation has been linked to overeating and weight gain 5 , 14 ,