Should You Eat Before Bed?

As a personal trainer, the question, "Should I eat before bed?" is asked most frequently in my eight-year experience. People have the belief that eating past a particular time will pack on the freshman-15 all over again. The idea is that since you are inactive while sleeping, most of those calories would be converted to fat and therefore cause weight gain. While there are some downsides to late-night food consumption, nothing, as it relates to health and nutrition, is cut and dry. 

Sometimes a late-night meal can be a great bonding experience with friends and provide some valuable social interaction. But then again, one of the most notable downsides of eating before bed is sleep disruption. And research shows poor sleep (read more) to correlate with increased snacking and calorie intake. 

So we can't just look at calories in versus calories out when we are focused on overall health. Instead, we should include all of the pillars of health and see how they affect one another.

  1. Nutrition

  2. Sleep

  3. Community

  4. Fitness

In this post, we'll try to balance out the good and the bad and give some additional insight into the myths and truths around late-night food consumption. 

Night Sweats

For me, eating late at night causes significant sleep disruption, especially if I load up on the carbs. My body will generally run hotter and cause me to wake in the middle of the night extremely sweaty. Not cute, I know. Despite the reaction I have, this is not the case for everyone. I even have a few clients that claim to sleep like a baby shortly after eating. 

So what gives? 

Why can some people eat before bed and sleep well, while others can't?

Blame Your Parents

The truth is, the answer may be found in our genetics. In a recent episode of the Foundmyfitness podcast, Dr. Rhonda Patrick explained the effects that the sleep hormone melatonin could inhibit the blood sugar-lowering hormone insulin. 

When calories are consumed, the body needs to secrete insulin to keep blood glucose levels in check. Carbohydrates followed by proteins will solicit the most significant spike in insulin, while fats will have a much lower effect. Since melatonin inhibits insulin, a high caloric meal before bed may cause sleep disruption due to those higher glucose levels in the blood. 

According to a study published in Cell Metabolism, 30% of the total population and 51% of European descent carry the MTNR1B gene (2). 

And guess what!

I happen to be one of those people.

Genes Matter

A 2018 study found that overweight women with the gene had impaired glucose tolerance when they consumed their meal an hour before bed versus four hours. But this only occurred in women who expressed the MTNR1B gene, which means melatonin plays an essential role in blood sugar levels. Based on their findings, the authors recommended consuming dinner no later than 2-4 hours before your usual bedtime in overweight individuals with the gene (3). 

Interested In Knowing Your DNA?

Don't Eat Before Bed? It Depends

For most people, eating before bed won't make you gain weight if you take in less energy than you need (1). But for others, eating a surplus of calories before bed isn't the best idea (4). It can impact your sleep and increase calorie consumption, especially the next day. But that doesn't mean you can't have a snack before bed. Recent research has shown a small, protein-dense beverage or food (<200 cals) to be beneficial when paired with an exercise regimen (4,5). 

Need help on deciding what to eat? Click the button below for a FREE food shopping list. 

References

  1. Kinsey, Amber W, and Michael J Ormsbee. “The health impact of nighttime eating: old and new perspectives.” Nutrients vol. 7,4 2648-62. 9 Apr. 2015, doi:10.3390/nu7042648

  2. Tuomi, Tiinamaija et al. “Increased Melatonin Signaling Is a Risk Factor for Type 2 Diabetes.” Cell metabolism vol. 23,6 (2016): 1067-1077. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2016.04.009

  3. Lopez-Minguez, Jesus et al. “Late dinner impairs glucose tolerance in MTNR1B risk allele carriers: A randomized, cross-over study.” Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) vol. 37,4 (2018): 1133-1140. doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2017.04.003

  4. Ormsbee, Michael J et al. “The influence of nighttime feeding of carbohydrate or protein combined with exercise training on appetite and cardiometabolic risk in young obese women.” Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme vol. 40,1 (2015): 37-45.

  5. Trommelen, Jorn, and Luc J C van Loon. “Pre-Sleep Protein Ingestion to Improve the Skeletal Muscle Adaptive Response to Exercise Training.” Nutrients vol. 8,12 763. 28 Nov. 2016, doi:10.3390/nu8120763

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