Is It Good To Eat Before Bed?

welshwing

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Or bad? Is it a myth you will get fat or get "bad quality" sleep from eating right before bed? It is like 8 hours you don't eat, is this good or bad?
 

milk_lover

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I think eating sugar and calcium rich food before sleep is actually protective to the body from stress and high PTH during sleep. I can sleep longer if I eat something before sleep.
 
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i think it is very good because you have no sugar when you are asleep.... your stress hormones would probably go up wouldnt they you would think? i had gelatinous meat before sleep, slept great from that, maybe look into it see how you do
 

DaveFoster

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It depends when you ate dinner, how big your dinner was, and your thyroid/liver state. People who store glycogen efficiently can go the first half of the day without eating, and the same applies for sleep.
 

Brian

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I feel best not eating high protein more than a few before bed, and making sure to get the bulk of my protein and calories at breakfast and lunch. But if I'm hungry before bed I always sleep better having something with fat and carbs, but lower protein, such as ice cream or juice, sometimes dissolved with a little gelatin.

But if I have had a very physical day of work a large meal even right before bed feels necessary. Very sedentary days, not so much.
 

tara

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My guess is it depends on your glycogen storage capacity. I tend to wake up about 8-9 hrs after last food, unless disrupted by something else. If I don't eat (enough) before sleep I don't get enough sleep.
But there may be benefits of not having the digestive system loaded up before sleep too, and not having lots of [ETA:] hard-to-digest- food or protein (esp. meat) in the evening. So if you have glycogen storage capacity for 12+ hrs, maybe you would be better off having an empty belly when you go to sleep?
I still think food I eat in the morning through midday gets better used than later food.
 
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James IV

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I agree with Tara's thoughts. If you're trying to get the most efficiency with digestion, and eat according to natural circadian rhythms, then it would be best to get the majority of your calories during daylight hours. I think not having any food to digest when you are sleeping is likely best. Also you actually want your cortisol to rise as you sleep because that's wakes you up naturally at sunrise. My observations are that eating a large amount of calories before bed makes it more difficult to wake early in the morning. Likely because of the lack of cortisol. I also notice it's harder for people to eat a large breakfast because the cortisol curve pushes into the morning and blunts the appetite.

Personally, when I don't eat after dark (which I try and do most days), I have no restless legs, no night sweats, and crazy vivid dreams. I also wake up right at sunrise and get hungry shorty after waking, and breakfast gives me energy. On the nights I eat late, I have man of those symptoms, and I'm not hungry in the morning. When I force myself to eat, I get tired.
 
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LouiseK

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I have been playing around with this. The improvements from Peat have been incredible, but I've always struggled a little with getting to sleep or waking in the early hours of the morning (and I am sure this is related to my menstrual cycle as well as other factors).

For the past few weeks I have been eating my protein with loads of fruit/ honey/ caffeine etc before 3-4pm, and after that I just sip on a little OJ, pomegranate juice or coconut water (even better, all three combined!). I have kept up the considerable amount of salt during the daytime, but now stop after 4pm. I walk a fair distance to yoga class every other evening and this hasn't affected my performance as long as I have a bit of juice with me. I am properly tired around 10pm and sleep through the night without waking or needing to pee.

I do still keep a small glass of salted OJ on my bedside for when I first wake up around sunrise, I seem to need it then.

Having tried just about all the other dietary suggestions for sleep, I am hoping this approach continues to work for me!
 

tara

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LouiseK

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Tara I think it might have been something you posted about eating lightly before bed that made me give it a try, so thank you ;)
 

InChristAlone

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I definitely do better getting calories in during daylight, when I back load calories I sometimes get a pounding heart making it hard to fall asleep. But I still need a snack after dinner because overall I usually don't eat enough and I won't make it til morning.
 

Ukall

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eat when you're hungry

simple isn't it
I completely agree with you. But what if I am never hungry? :(
pounding heart making it hard to fall asleep
I relate this with you so much. Seriously, sometimes before sleeping, hearing and feeling my heart beating so strongly makes me feel uneasy. However, I am trying to always eat something before bedtime, because (I believe? believed?) it is said that it is actually healthier rather than not eating anything. But of course, well, it is always the same dilemma: some say that you should eat more at dinner rather at lunch - huge dinner + snack before bed; and others say the exact opposite - eat during the day + no snack before bed.
 

tara

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But of course, well, it is always the same dilemma: some say that you should eat more at dinner rather at lunch - huge dinner + snack before bed; and others say the exact opposite - eat during the day + no snack before bed.
That's probably because our needs differ. For me, I aim to eat as much as I can be hungry for in the morning-lunchtime, and in the evening eat as much I need to be able to sleep through the night and wake up ready for breakfast. Sometimes I get it right.
 

jet9

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I have been playing around with this. The improvements from Peat have been incredible, but I've always struggled a little with getting to sleep or waking in the early hours of the morning (and I am sure this is related to my menstrual cycle as well as other factors).

For the past few weeks I have been eating my protein with loads of fruit/ honey/ caffeine etc before 3-4pm, and after that I just sip on a little OJ, pomegranate juice or coconut water (even better, all three combined!). I have kept up the considerable amount of salt during the daytime, but now stop after 4pm. I walk a fair distance to yoga class every other evening and this hasn't affected my performance as long as I have a bit of juice with me. I am properly tired around 10pm and sleep through the night without waking or needing to pee.

I do still keep a small glass of salted OJ on my bedside for when I first wake up around sunrise, I seem to need it then.

Having tried just about all the other dietary suggestions for sleep, I am hoping this approach continues to work for me!

LouiseK, hi

Is that approach still works for you? I've tried it yesterday(basically all fruits/salt/protein before 4pm), after 4pm had only small piece of fish and some veggies.

I did the following:
breakfast(8am) chicken, liver, romaine 4 apples + pear, salt
lunch(1pm) lamb, chicken, 7 apples, salt
snack(4pm) 3 apples
dinner(7pm) cooked vegies, fish

But woke up at 3:30am. What could you suggest?
 
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It depends when you ate dinner, how big your dinner was, and your thyroid/liver state. People who store glycogen efficiently can go the first half of the day without eating, and the same applies for sleep.
Can you expand on this please? I don’t feel hunger the same way when comparing night time to day time.
 

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