Is It Okay To Eat A Lot Before Going To Bed?

javin

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Growing up I always heard stuff like "You shouldn't eat [x] amount of hours before going to sleep."

Is there any truth/reasoning to this statement from a Peat-perspective?

I like eating before bed. I find it helps me fall asleep faster.
 

Constatine

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Growing up I always heard stuff like "You shouldn't eat [x] amount of hours before going to sleep."

Is there any truth/reasoning to this statement from a Peat-perspective?

I like eating before bed. I find it helps me fall asleep faster.
It really depends on what you eat before bed. Too much sugar with too little fat and protein can increase metabolic rate too much and leave you hungry in the middle of the night, too much fat or food in general might cause the body to focus on digestion and not on repairing processes while you sleep but this is just pure speculation: The Health Impact of Nighttime Eating: Old and New Perspectives . Bottom line experiment with different healthy foods at different quantities and see how well rested you feel in the morning.
 

Aspekt

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I like having fat and carbs before bed, but I generally sleep the best not eating meat after the sun goes down. Ray mentioned protein digestion slowing after sunset.
 

pboy

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it depends how late you are up, and or other factors...the body seems to want to go into heal mode, meditate mode, something like that when the sun goes down...you can still digest fine just less efficiently potentially, and the sun can help bring optimism and shore up areas of imbalance at least temporarily. Its more important for digestive flow...if you wake up and feel not hungry and that things aren't digested totally and or processed, consider leaving more of a gap between last and first time eating...usually digestive speed and efficiency is correlated with T3, and that is influenced by a lot of things including your mindset, outlook, and will, and mood (which is influenced by a lot also)...as well as of course nutrition and balance of nutrients and fluids and things. If it feels more worth it, it might be good, if it feels like it might be good then but in the morning maybe not, its a call you make then. In of itself it doesn't matter so much but considering the fact sun increases efficiency, outlook even, and that digestive efficiency and or time to 'reset' so to speak matters also, you might want to gear your circadian the best you can towards more time of 'action' or potential action to daylight hours, but there might be times where an adjustment or eating late or if you're recovering from something...that it might be a more efficient thing to do, you kind of have to develop a sense for it and make the call
 

mrchibbs

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Experimenting is really the way.

I have bruxism and it tends to be significantly less of an issue if I don't eat tryptophan rich foods (since those promote serotonin).
Also starch (pasta, bread, potatoes) late in the night is problematic, as it feeds bacteria, leaving me with a white tongue in the morning.
Muscle meat has an excitatory effect, being the opposite of gelatin (which has zero tryptophan), which has a calming effect and is a great sleeping aid.

With respect to animal protein, yogurt and milk have a lot less tryptophan than cheeses, eggs and meat.

So, some combination of milk/yogurt with honey and gelatin has been really good for me before bed. Gives you protein, gelatin, calcium, sucrose and very little tryptophan.
 

Cirion

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I will add a +1 to eating before bed is not only fine, but very beneficial... as long as it is not foods that you have trouble digesting (for me starch, tryptophan, too much fat).
 

Waremu

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Eating before bed is a must for me. Highly essential for me to sleep well into the night. My biggest meal is usually evening, then I have one easy to digest but fairly long lasting meal before bed. The meal is moderate protein, high carb. If it's too high in meat protein it keeps me up at night. Milk and sugar/honey with gelatin and some fat and salt 30 min before going to bed makes me sleep like a baby. It's usually a 3:1 ratio of carb to protein. Usually blended into a vanilla shake with vanilla extract added.
 

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mrchibbs

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I will add a +1 to eating before bed is not only fine, but very beneficial... as long as it is not foods that you have trouble digesting (for me starch, tryptophan, too much fat).

Nice to see some commonality, avoiding starch and tryptophan has been a game changer for me, it has a powerful impact on teeth grinding, and according to dentist and doctors there's next to nothing to do for bruxism except wearing an occlusal splint. Reminded me of Ray talking about a dentist who solved most of his patient's problems by recommending a laxative LOL. I generally feel less groggy, with a cleaner tongue the next morning by avoiding starches too.

It's fine to eat before bed and probably beneficial, a glass of milk has been mentioned several times on this forum, but from the literature The Health Impact of Nighttime Eating: Old and New Perspectives and common sense, avoiding heavy muscle meat and starches after supper (or sunset) and focusing on a light nutritious snack with little tryptophan, some calcium and sugar is really a good idea. Again, some warm milk, raw honey and spoonful of gelatin hits the spot for me.
 

mrchibbs

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I noticed you are from Cyprus in your bio

I have been wondering, are Greece and Cyprus switching away from olive oil to canola oil and other pufas?

I'm not Greek but that sounds blasphemous haha
 

tankasnowgod

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Growing up I always heard stuff like "You shouldn't eat [x] amount of hours before going to sleep."

Is there any truth/reasoning to this statement from a Peat-perspective?

I like eating before bed. I find it helps me fall asleep faster.

Well, there is from a gravity perspective, if you are sleeping flat. Your digestive system relies on gravity to move food along, and if you eat a lot before bed, it will be sitting there most of the night, possibly causing reflux, and only moving along as you toss and turn.

If you sleep inclined, or at least have the upper half of your body inclined.... this takes away the major issue, and eating before bed is likely beneficial.
 

mrchibbs

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Eating before bed is a must for me. Highly essential for me to sleep well into the night. My biggest meal is usually evening, then I have one easy to digest but fairly long lasting meal before bed. The meal is moderate protein, high carb. If it's too high in meat protein it keeps me up at night. Milk and sugar/honey with gelatin and some fat and salt 30 min before going to bed makes me sleep like a baby. It's usually a 3:1 ratio of carb to protein. Usually blended into a vanilla shake with vanilla extract added.

That's almost exactly my experience. Gelatin is a known sleeping aid, but learning of its tryptophan deficiency and therefore how it prevents excess serotonin was really insightful. Honey obviously has a myriad of benefits outside of providing sucrose, but importantly it seems to reduce bacterial translocation Effect of honey on bacterial translocation and intestinal morphology in obstructive jaundice and also offer potent antibacterial activity Honey: its medicinal property and antibacterial activity. Along with calcium and the slow-release casein it's a simple but powerful cocktail to help the liver do its job and keep blood sugar leveled throughout the night, while preventing adverse intestinal events.
 

mrchibbs

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Well, there is from a gravity perspective, if you are sleeping flat. Your digestive system relies on gravity to move food along, and if you eat a lot before bed, it will be sitting there most of the night, possibly causing reflux, and only moving along as you toss and turn.

If you sleep inclined, or at least have the upper half of your body inclined.... this takes away the major issue, and eating before bed is likely beneficial.

That's really interesting. Do you have references on this topic? I'm really tempted to buy a tempur-pedic adjustable bed to be able to sleep with the upper body elevated a little bit. I remember reading a topic on this forum about its effect on basal temperature as well.
 

Vinny

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I noticed you are from Cyprus in your bio

I have been wondering, are Greece and Cyprus switching away from olive oil to canola oil and other pufas?
I,m originaly from Bulgaria, but,ve been living in Cyprus for 11 years.

Well, many Cypriots own olive gardens and produce oil, for selling and for home consumption. It,s been for many centuries, so they,ll never give it up, it,s highly valued.
However, they go very often to tavernas... Do you think the restaurant owners cook the food with olive oil and/or butter? Of course no! They use the crap oils, because they,re much cheaper.
So, yes, the locals, despite slowly, are switching...
 

tankasnowgod

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That's really interesting. Do you have references on this topic? I'm really tempted to buy a tempur-pedic adjustable bed to be able to sleep with the upper body elevated a little bit. I remember reading a topic on this forum about its effect on basal temperature as well.

Biggest reference is Andrew Fletcher, and the IBT thread-

Inclined Bed Therapy - Sleeping With The Head End Of The Bed Elevated

Also, if you look up "Gerd Bed Wedges," you'll see that there are a fair amount of products designed with this idea in mind.

All that said, you can use bricks or books or PVC pipe as a way to incline your bed, and that's all much cheaper than buying a tempurpedic.
 

Gone Peating

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I,m originaly from Bulgaria, but,ve been living in Cyprus for 11 years.

Well, many Cypriots own olive gardens and produce oil, for selling and for home consumption. It,s been for many centuries, so they,ll never give it up, it,s highly valued.
However, they go very often to tavernas... Do you think the restaurant owners cook the food with olive oil and/or butter? Of course no! They use the crap oils, because they,re much cheaper.
So, yes, the locals, despite slowly, are switching...

That is a shame

I went to a Greek festival at one of the churches in my neighborhood the other day and bought a gyro, it tasted not great

So I went behind where they were cooking to see what they were using and sure enough it was canola oil lol

Hopefully someday the news gets out on how terrible pufa is, I want to be able to eat not just at my house
 

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