When it comes to losing weight, we’re all on the hunt for anything that will make the process easier.
But what if it was simply down to what time of day you eat?
While science has previously revealed the time of day you should roughly eat each meal, a new study has revealed the specific time you should be eating dinner.
Scientists looked at data from 110 participants between the ages of 18 and 22. They analysed sleep and circadian behaviours along with food intake over one week.
To log their food, participants used an app while their body composition and the timing of melatonin release – the chemical which helps with sleep – was assessed in a lab.
The study found that the participants with the highest body fat percentages ate the majority of their daily calories shortly before bed.
One of the best ways to lose weight is to eat your evening meal a few hours before you go to sleep – so you have time to properly digest.
If you go to sleep at 11pm on a regular evening, you should make sure you’ve had your dinner by 8pm.
You should also try to avoid dessert or sweet snacks too close to bed time.
That’s because sugar-packed foods might not look like much, but they pack a lot of calories into a small portion.
The study authors concluded that those with lower body fat percentages often stayed awake for several hours after eating their last meal of the day.
Lead author, Andrew McHill said: “We found that the timing of food intake relative to melatonin onset, a marker of a person’s biological night, is associated with higher percent body fat and BMI, and not associated with the time of day, amount or composition of food intake.
“These findings suggest that the timing of when you consume calories, relative to your own biological timing may be more important for health than the actual time of day.”
Source: The Daily Star
