There are so many random excuses we can give today as to why we eat late at night. It could be because of the time we get back home due to the nature of our jobs, or could also be because we claim to be hungry and so we get ourselves a snack or two from the fridge to appease our cravings. Whatever the case might be, eating late at night can be really dangerous to your health.
Here are 3 reasons why you should avoid eating late at night.
1. HEARTBURN AND ACID REFLUX
Acid reflux is a common condition in which stomach acid moves back up into your esophagus after eating. It is sometimes accompanied by a burning or tight pain in your lower or mid-chest. Having mild acid reflux occasionally shouldn’t really be a big deal but then, when it keeps happening, it could an indication of the chronic digestive disorder, GERD (gastro-esophageal-reflux-disease). Lying down after eating can trigger acid reflux and other GERD symptoms, such as hoarseness, postnasal drip, difficulty in swallowing, coughing, chronic throat clearing, and even asthma. Reflux can also lead to esophageal cancer, which has increased by about 500 percent since the 1970’s. So if you’ve started noticing any of this symptoms in your body, then you need to change your dinner time ASAP. Even if you’re on a safer side and have never experienced this symptoms, it’s still advisable to change your dinner time to 6pm or 7pm latest and try to be up for about an hour before going to bed. I would also advice that for your dinner, you would probably want to eat foods that have low content of calories and sugar.
2. WEIGHT GAIN
Eating late at night is an assured means of adding to your weight. You’ve probably seen or read about this in some book or on the internet, but what you are not really sure of is how this can happen. Well, let me try breaking it down for you as best as I can.
The increase in your body weight is primarily caused by changes in the rate at which your metabolism functions during sleeping versus waking hours.
When you eat during the day, you are relatively active, going up and down doing stuff, so your metabolism is functioning rapidly. In contrast, during sleep, your metabolism has slowed quite a bit and because of this, the food that you have recently eaten will be metabolized and digested at a much slower rate. This greatly contributes to weight gain and possible obesity. In fact, from recent research, it has been discovered that eating late at night has been a habit of obesity patients for so long. Even when you have cravings late at night, choose healthy calorie-dense foods, such as nuts, avocado, grapefruits, cheese.
3. IT AFFECTS YOUR SLEEP CYCLE
Another reason why you need to avoid eating late at night is due to the effect it can have on your sleep cycle. How? Very simple. From research, it has been discovered that the digestive process can have serious implications on your sleep cycle, causing you to wake up every now and then, and even have a hard time falling asleep in the first place. Sugary foods like cookies and other baked goods can really put you in a position where you have to struggle to have a good night sleep. In contrast, warm milk or green tea can actually help you fall asleep at night quite easily.
CONCLUSION
Having heavy late night snacks is an enemy to our health, try avoiding this in every best way you can. Endeavor by all means to have your dinner about 2 to 3 hours before you go in to bed. Do this and ensure a better yourself better sleeping time and reduced risk of suffering from certain illnesses.
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