Eat lighter dinner to sleep like a baby: Tips to avoid overeating at night

When you eat and go to bed immediately, you sleep worse. It goes beyond just gaining weight.

Eating immediately before going to bed is harmful to health. It has several negative effects, including the well-known risk of weight gain. But do you know about the poor sleep quality and digestion problems? Dietician Shyla Cadogan has explained the ill-effects of late night snacking in her report published on Study Finds. She even offered tips on how to control late bingefests.

Eating right before bedtime ruins your sleep quality. (Shutterstock)

Poor sleep quality

In her report, the dietician explains that one is more active during the day, moving and drinking water. It makes digestion easier without any discomfort. Physical activity during the day increases oxygen flow and stimulates the digestive system. However, when you’re sleeping, your body is inactive and in a state of complete rest. Metabolism slows down and digestion becomes a challenge. There’s a tendency of bloating, and you are restless the entire night. It makes falling asleep difficult, leaving you tossing and turning. With poor sleep quality, you wake up bloated and exhausted the next day.

Ways to avoid overeating

To prevent such a fatiguing situation, Cadogan recommends having balanced and healthy meals throughout the day. When your daytime meals are dull and improper, your appetite grows, leading to overeating at dinner time. Another reason late-night appetite builds up is due to boredom. Emotional or boredom eating is common and is an easy way to process emotion. Avoid that by engaging yourself in leisure activities like reading or painting. Relaxing before bed is a no-brainer. As the day slows down at night, the likelihood of overthinking about the uneventful day or life in general is greater. Stress induces cravings for sugary treats. End the day well and sleep heartily by eating well before bedtime.

With a lighter meal and by ensuring you don’t go to bed immediately afterward, you give your digestive system a head start. There’s no active movement when you sleep, which slows down the digestion process. So after dinner, go do your work or walk for a bit. When you're mindful of your dinner time, you’ll get a better quality sleep and wake up the next day refreshed.