Jahnavi Sarma
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Written By: Jahnavi Sarma | Published : October 29, 2019 8:53 PM IST
Researchers from the European Society of Cardiology say that people who eat dinner near bedtime have worse outcomes after a heart attack. © Shutterstock
Early dinners have always been associated with health benefits. Many people who have tried this out claim to have seen amazing positive changes in existing health conditions and fitness levels. If you ask your doctor, he will probably tell you that the ideal time for dinner is around 8 pm or two hours before bedtime. This gives you time to digest your food and have better sleep.
If you eat a late dinner, you are more likely to have trouble sleeping at night. It may also cause indigestion and acid reflux problems. These are a few problems that you can successfully address. Constant late-night dinner can sometimes lead to irreversible health conditions too.
According to a study at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), people who have their evening meal before 9 pm or wait at least two hours before going to sleep have a lower risk of breast and prostate cancer. According to researchers, these people have an approximate 20 per cent lower risk of those types of cancer compared to people who have supper after 10pm or those who eat and go to bed very close afterwards, respectively. This is the first study to analyse the association between cancer risk and the timing of meals and sleep.
Researchers say that there are many studies that look at the link between different kinds of food and cancer. But very little attention was given to other factors surrounding the everyday act of eating like the timing of food intake and activities before and after meals. They say that their aim was to 'assess whether meal timing could have a link with risk of breast and prostate cancer, two of the most common cancers worldwide'.
These two cancers also have a link to night-shift work, circadian disruption and alteration of biological rhythms. Researchers looked at each participant's lifestyle and chronotype before coming to this conclusion. The International Journal of Cancer published this study.
The above-mentioned study proves that late dinners can be bad for health. It is important to eat early so that you have a proper night's sleep. This will also offer you a range of health benefits. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine say that eating late at night could be more dangerous than you think. Compared to eating earlier in the day, prolonged delayed eating can increase weight, insulin and cholesterol levels, and negatively affect fat metabolism, and hormonal markers implicated in heart disease, diabetes and other health problems. Compared to eating earlier in the day, prolonged delayed eating can increase weight, insulin and cholesterol levels, and negatively affect fat metabolism, and hormonal markers implicated in heart disease, diabetes and other health problems.
Here, let a take a look at a few of the benefits associated with early dinner.
According to researchers at the Obesity Society, early dinner reduced swings in hunger and altered fat and carbohydrate burning patterns. This may help in losing weight they say. It will not only reduce fat mass but also decrease the risk of chronic diseases, they say. Early dinner, therefore, will make a lot of difference in your weight loss goal. If you also count your calories during this meal, you will lose a significant amount of weight at a faster rate. But you have to make it a point to have early dinner every day.
Researchers from the European Society of Cardiology say that people who eat dinner near bedtime have worse outcomes after a heart attack. This was published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. Researchers say that such people have a four to five times higher likelihood of death, another heart attack, or angina (chest pain) within 30 days after hospital discharge for heart attack. This was the first study to evaluate unhealthy eating behaviour in patients with acute coronary syndromes.
A study at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) says that eating late at night may alter brain physiology. According to researchers, if you eat at a time that is normally reserved for sleep, it may lead to a deficiency in the type of learning and memory controlled by the hippocampal area of the brain. This was published in the journal eLife.
If you eat late at night, you increase your risk of indigestion. You may experience symptoms of acidity and bloating. Eat early for smooth digestion. This will also regularise your bowel movements and keep your stomach healthy. Also, make your dinner light. This will significantly make a difference.
According to a study published in Experimental Physiology, eating late may increase your risk of heart disease and diabetes. The body's 24-hour cycle is to blame here. You develop insulin resistance when your body cells do not respond to insulin the way it is supposed to. This causes type 2 diabetes. But you can bring down this risk by eating early dinner.
