Early vs Late Dinner: What’s Healthiest for Your Body?

Timing Your Meals Incorrectly

Eating dinner early (somewhere between 6:00 to 7:30 pm) is good for your health. This enables your body to process food and digest it before bedtime, improves your metabolism, and improves your health. Eating earlier enables your body to digest, absorb, and assimilate food while not dealing with discomfort while sleeping. Late dinners, especially late dinners before going to sleep and those that include heavy food, are associated with increased digestive problems, higher incidences of increased acid reflux, and sleep disruptions.

Health Benefits of Dinner Early

• Satisfying your hunger earlier in the evening this way should provide benefits long-term, for example:
• Better Digestion: Your stomach has time to digest its contents so the feeling of being too full as you sleep lessens the chance for bloating and stomach discomfort.
• Better Sleep: Earlier meals allow for a lighter stomach at bedtime which may reduce the chances of experiencing indigestion or stomach discomfort and improve uninterrupted deep sleep.
• Weight Maintenance: Early dinners allows your body to continue to utilize calories as it is meant to naturally, where your body will convert them to energy (burning) rather than the body holding on to stored extra calories (fat). Also, it will prevent late-night eating later and snacking after dinner that tends to coincide with increased amount of energy (food) consumption and potential increases in body fat.
• Better Blood Sugar: Eating earlier, giving less time between meals would possibly allow for more constant blood sugar level regulation while sleeping considering that eating three meals and sleeping overnight do not take into consideration single serve snack size food types.
• Better Heart Disease and Metabolic Outcomes: Studies demonstrate late dinners are associated with a higher risk of obesity and metabolic dysregulation (i.e., impaired glucose metabolism, etc.), whereas eating earlier promotes heart health and good lipid values.

Late Dinner Risks

Eating dinner late can result in:

• Increased risk of weight gain and obesity
• Interference with blood sugar regulation and calorie burning lead to metabolic syndrome (e.g. cluster of conditions that occur together, such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat, etc.)
• Impaired sleep quality and increased likelihood of acid reflux, bloating, and heartburn
• Adverse impact on hunger hormones resulting in impaired sense of fullness, and overeating

Eating early dinners is best for your body. It helps the body metabolize food, supports digestion, aids sleep, and lowers the risk of chronic disease linked to late-night eating.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not substitute professional medical advice. Consult a doctor or nutritionist for personalized dietary recommendations.