Why you shouldn’t eat late at night

We have all been in a situation where its 1 am and you are staring in the refrigerator trying to make a choice in what to eat. You push away the bowl of vegetables and rather go in for a slice of cake and a drink or a bowl of pasta which is easy to cook or a heavy food.

We have all been there. Tired, stressed and hungry, reaching for anything in sight to calm our desperate bellies. And while giving in to an occasional late-night meal is nothing to beat yourself up about making this a habit may not be a great idea.

Here are a few reasons to kick your late night eating habits.

It increases the risk of heart attack

Eating dinner after 7 pm could increase the risk of suffering a heart attack. Eating dinner within two hours of going to bed will make you suffer from high blood pressure which will not drop sufficiently overnight. Dr Ebru Ozpelit, associate professor of cardiology, advice “Eating breakfast is important, we should have a strong breakfast, we shouldn’t skip lunch. We must have a small dinner and it mustn’t be later than 7 o’clock in the evening.”

It can lead to GERD

When you eat late at night, particularly if it’s a large meal, it may increase your chances for gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD. GERD is a digestive disease in which stomach acid or bile irritates the food pipelining, causing the pain and discomfort we know as heartburn. Acids produced in your stomach in the evening drop, therefore, it is not enough to digest the complex foods that are why is advisable to eat earlier.

It causes insomnia

Going to bed right after eating in the night can disrupt a good night’s sleep. You will end up being awake the whole night or turning on your bed trying very hard to catch some sleep. You feel heavy and become restless.

It makes you hungrier the next day

Eating late at night can have you feeling hungrier than usual when you wake up the next morning thanks to the insulin your pancreas releases after a meal. This, in turn, produces more glucose which triggers a hormone called “ghrelin” responsible for triggering hunger. Ghrelin usually uses the naturally occurring fast between around fast between 8 pm to 8 am to reset itself ensuring you only feel usual levels of hunger. However, if you smack late at night, the cycle will still be ongoing and you will feel hungrier than usual, which could potentially lead to weight gain.

It can lead to weight gain

We tend to make bad choices of food in the night. Foods such as ice cream, pastries and salty chips, all of which are calorie dense and can promote weight gain in the long run.