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Contrary to certain notions about eating dinner at late hours, having an early dinner might just solve the majority of your health problems! Taking an early and light dinner is what we should do instead of making eating late a habit. Consuming food at odd hours, leading to irregular digestion, lies at the root of most of our health issues.
It is medically advised to give yourself a gap of at least 2–3 hours before bedtime and dinner to help your body function with ease. This is because the flow of gastric juices increases during the night to digest complex proteins as we sleep.
If the timing between two consecutive meals is not maintained properly, this could lead to multiple digestive issues, high blood sugar, and the risk of heart disease. The body takes a minimum of 6 hours to digest meals, and it should be provided with that period of time to do so comfortably.
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Benefits of eating early dinner
An early dinner paves the way for better health, healing gut issues, and letting the body absorb nutrition from the food we have taken in the correct way. Our system works better at night with the circadian rhythm, or sleep cycle, to increase the bioavailability of nutrients from the food consumed throughout the day. Since the regenerative factor of the body activates during the night, the system renews itself on the cellular level at night. The following is a list of all the benefits of an early dinner.
1. Improved sleeping
Having an early dinner can increasingly improve your sleeping pattern since the feeling of bloatedness or heaviness after meals subside within a couple of hours. It also takes care of your digestion, easing stomach discomfort that often hampers sleep if one has eaten a late dinner.
Consuming dinner at odd hours also causes acid reflux, which severely degrades the quality of sleep and, in turn, impacts overall health. Symptoms of these could include exhaustion and heaviness throughout the day, digestion-related issues, mood swings, and headaches.
2. Providing better appetite
Eating early gives your body the space to undergo the process of digestion that engages the flow of gastric juices. These juices mix with the food in our stomach to break it down into nutrients. This is a complex procedure that occurs slowly, especially when we are resting. This is why we should provide our bodies with ample rest after dinner before we proceed to bed.
A gap of at least 2–3 hours between dinner and sleeping is necessary for the process of digestion to get complete and liberate waste from the body. This, in turn, will increase your appetite, which is a very important sign of good health.
3. Increasing energy levels
When the body gets good sleep and even better digestion, energy levels throughout the day are bound to go up. The health track for the rest of the day is set at dinner time the previous night. This is as true as the spikes in energy that you can yourself feel during the day when you have had a good bowel movement, leading to an increase in appetite.
This means that your dinner was assimilated into your body correctly and burned to provide you with energy. In order to make this happen, make sure to eat at least a couple of hours before you hit bed. This will make sure to burn down extra fat, providing a lot of energy for doing a number of chores throughout the day.
4. Reduces risk of heart disease
According to medical experts, when we sleep soundly, our blood pressure reduces by almost 10%. This allows the body to heal and recover while in a state of rest. Our blood pressure begins to rise when we wake up. Having dinner late impacts blood sugar adversely.
In a state of alertness that is caused by poor sleep and bad digestion, our blood pressure remains at an increased level. This significantly increases the risk of heart attacks. Eating a light and early dinner well before bedtime reduces the risk of potential heart disease.
5. Reduces risk of diabetes
Improper absorption of food by the system increases the risk of developing Type II diabetes. This usually happens when one has the habit of snacking at odd hours, leading to an increase in the glycemic index. The disorder occurs when the body fails to utilize insulin correctly.
It is mandatory for the body to have good sleep and healthy meal times in order to manage the functions of such hormones. Eating early not only reduces the chances of diabetes but also makes sure that bodily functions are well maintained, especially on the hormonal front.
6. Preventing acid reflux
One of the major side effects of snacking late at night is the occurrence of acid reflux. This happens when the gastric juices responsible for digesting our food flow upwards into the food pipe, accompanied by a burning sensation in the throat and chest. It usually occurs when the body is stressed due to improper food consumption combined with a lack of rest.
Consuming your food early reduces the risk of acid reflux significantly, reducing stress on the chest and stomach. The food is then digested with ease and absorbed by the system in the proper way.
7. Reducing constipation
Being constipated is the most common occurrence of improper food digestion. When the body overburdens itself with food and immediately goes into a state of rest for sleeping, toxins can accumulate in the system. Food is not properly digested, resulting in constricted bowel movements.
The body is unable to flush out toxins, which could lead to multiple health disorders. For the proper working of the excretory system, one must consider having an early and light dinner the night before and giving the body ample time to break it down properly.
8. Maintaining healthy body weight
A huge advantage of snacking light and early at night is that it helps to maintain a stable and healthy body weight. It does so by effectively burning the calories in the gap between two subsequent meals, during which the body is in a state of rest.
This promotes a healthy appetite in the morning and reduces hunger cravings during the day or late at night. The process prevents the deposition of fat in the body, leading to a healthy system and a sound mind that keeps you fit.
An early dinner time comes loaded with health benefits that one can avail if they are consistent with a healthy routine. The benefits of eating early dinner include all the goodness of proper digestion and good sleep that makes your next day all the more lively and beautiful.
Although there might be certain times when our daily routine may go for a toss and we may have to snack late, the importance of remembering the consequences of consuming food late should always be considered when making a daily schedule of activities and maintaining a lifestyle.
