If you regularly get tired during the day, the cause might not be your sleep schedule, rigorous exercise or a heavy workload — instead, it might be because of when you eat.
“Eating the same meal at 8 a.m. versus 6 p.m. can affect our body’s ability to use it for energy,” explained Dr. Mary Valvano, a physician from BetterNowMD, in HuffPost.
Eating later in the evening — especially if dinner is a heavier meal — can lead to lower energy levels the next day. Experts say it’s due to the body’s ability to metabolize food.
“Eating late makes you less glucose tolerant and also makes your body burn less fat than if you had the same food earlier in the day,” Jonathan Jun, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins and author of a recent study on the health effects of eating late in the day, told The Washington Post.
Eating earlier in the day could do wonders when it comes to sleep quality and increased energy levels; it also has an impact on overall health.
“While lifestyle change is never easy, these findings suggest that eating earlier in the day may be worth the effort to help prevent these detrimental chronic health effects,” said Kelly Allison, PhD, an associate professor of psychology in Psychiatry and director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders.
Proper sleep habits, eating time and a steady nighttime routine are proven to help increase sleep efficiency and make for a better, more energetic tomorrow.
