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Is it good for your health to go to bed hungry?

How to eat a healthier dinner

By Phil HolzerPublished about a year ago 8 min read
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With the rapid development of modern society, more and more young people often stay up late and work overtime due to the greater pressure of work and life, and have irregular diet and work and rest.

After graduating from university, Mr. Sun, 26, has been working alone, and staying up late and working overtime is a common occurrence for him as a programmer. Often, Mr. Sun doesn't feel like eating dinner when he's working overtime. So most of the time, he chose to treat himself to some barbecue on his way home and even ate the barbecue as his main meal.

This went on for about half a year, and not only did Mr. Sun's weight rise from 120kg to 150kg but even his stomach and intestines had developed serious discomfort.

In the past two months, Mr. Sun often felt his stomach upset, thinking it was indigestion caused by eating too much, so he went to the company nearby to buy anti-food tablets on his own. But instead of relief after two days of eating, he also experienced severe pain in his upper abdomen and symptoms of nausea and bloating.

Realizing that something was not right, Mr. Sun rushed to the hospital for a check-up. After a series of test results, Mr. Sun was diagnosed with early-stage stomach cancer. Mr. Sun's parents, who were overseas, came to Shanghai overnight upon hearing the news, unwilling to believe the fact that their son had been diagnosed with stomach cancer.

The doctor told them that the patient's illness was very closely related to eating long barbecues and that they must pay attention to their diet in the future. Sun's mother was very puzzled, can eating late-night snacks have such a big impact on the human body?

What are the effects of eating late-night snacks before bed on the human body?

Many people in life may have a distinct hunger before bedtime and cannot resist going for a snack. Generally speaking, an occasional snack does not have a great impact on the organism, but if snacking is habitual for a long time, it may seriously threaten people's health.

According to data from an article published in the journal Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2020, long-term snacking can promote obesity. The experimenters randomly selected more than 2,000 adults, who were healthy and maintained an average body mass index of around 25, and followed them for up to two years.

The results found that people who ate after 10:00 pm were more likely to be obese than those who ate between 5:00 and 6:00 pm.

This is because the body is more active during the day and the body metabolizes faster, so eating between 17:00 and 18:00 can help promote digestion. And after 22:00, people's digestive efficiency will be greatly reduced, prolonging the time food spends in the digestive tract, increasing the body's absorption of sugar and calories from food, and promoting obesity.

And, many people eat with a vengeance after being hungry for several hours. In the long run, weight is gained unknowingly.

Secondly, according to data published in the American journal Circulation, eating at 10:00 pm for long periods increases the chances of cardiovascular disease in some way.

Many people choose to satisfy their hungry stomachs with high-protein, high-fat, and high-salt foods for their evening snacks.

However, at this time, most of the body's organs have already entered a dormant state and are unable to metabolize the fat in food in time. When a certain amount of fat clings to the walls of blood vessels there is a risk of blood vessel blockage, forming blood clots and inducing heart attacks and coronary heart disease.

Moreover, according to data from American studies, the epithelial cells of the human gastric mucous are renewed about 2-3 times a week, and mostly at night. Eating late-night snacks after 22:00 for a long period will to a certain extent destroy the cellular turnover, damage the gastric mucous and reduce the peristaltic capacity of the stomach and intestines. This increases the chances of diseases such as gastritis, gastric ulcers, and even stomach cancer.

Not only may eating late at night have adverse effects on the body, but even going to bed hungry can cause discomfort.

What are the effects of going to bed hungry? Is it more harmful than having a late-night snack?

In recent days, there has been a lot of debate on the internet about who is more harmful to the body: "eating a late night snack" or "going to bed hungry". Here we will explore what symptoms can occur if you go to bed hungry.

1. Low blood sugar

Blood sugar is the glucose content of the human blood. Blood sugar can provide energy for the body's organs and tissues, and is an essential component of the human body. The glucose in the blood is mainly transformed by what people eat.

Often skipping dinner is likely to result in low blood glucose levels, causing weakness, dizziness, and panic attacks.

For diabetics, in particular, a blood sugar level below 3.7 mmol/L for a long period is likely to cause cardiovascular disease and irreversible damage to the body. This is because hypoglycemia the excitability of the sympathetic nervous system to a certain extent, leading to an increase in blood viscosity. This can slow down blood flow and increase blood pressure, which can lead to cardiovascular diseases and endanger health.

2, induce stomach disease

Many people in life want to lose weight by not eating dinner, but they do not know that long-term gastrointestinal fasting for more than 10 hours may damage the health of the gastrointestinal tract. Because the stomach acid in any case will continue to secrete, and do not eat dinner may lead to gastric mucous by the destruction of stomach acid, stomach ulcers, and other diseases.

3. Affects sleep

Many people will experience a sense of satisfaction after eating and drinking enough, and when the food in people's stomachs is finished digesting, the brain will send a signal to the organism to eat.

If one has not eaten for a long time, it may lead to abnormal excitement in the cerebral cortex and the symptoms of insomnia. Prolonged insomnia can seriously affect the speed of neuronal transmission, leading to mental depression and lack of concentration the following day.

Affects sleep

4. Reduced immunity

Immunity is the main defense mechanism against foreign bacteria and viruses, which can help to effectively identify foreign viruses and bacteria and help to maintain the stability of the body's environment.

And according to experiments, not eating dinner for a long time may lead to insufficient intake of nutrients such as protein, making it difficult to synthesize antibacterial factors such as immunoglobulins, seriously affecting the body's immunity.

Eating late-night snacks is bad for the body, increasing the risk of gaining weight, heart disease, and stomach abnormalities; going to bed hungry is also bad for the body, resulting in low blood sugar, stomach disorders, sleep, and reduced immunity. It is difficult to distinguish between the two. It is therefore advisable to avoid these two bad habits and learn how to eat a healthy dinner.

How to eat a healthier dinner?

First of all, a healthy dinner should pay attention to the time of day.

According to American experimental data, the best time for people to eat dinner is 18:00~19:00, and if people eat too late for a long time, they may not be able to digest the food in their stomachs before going to bed, which will seriously affect their sleep quality and lead to obesity.

In 2010, researchers began a seven-year follow-up study of more than 60,000 people. The results found that respondents who fasted for around 12 hours at night had a more significant drop in B MI than those who fasted for around 8 hours.

This goes to show that learning to watch meal times can not only help promote sleep but can also help with weight loss to some extent. Therefore, it is recommended that people eat at least 3 hours before bedtime so that they can effectively digest the food in their gastrointestinal tract and maintain a healthy state of their organism.

Secondly, a healthy dinner should also focus on a balanced diet. Many people are picky eaters, which is a wrong eating habit.

It is recommended that people pay attention to the meat and vegetables at dinner and try to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables to help replenish the vitamins and dietary fiber needed by the body and improve their immune system.

Moreover, a healthy dinner should control the amount of food intake and try to keep it at 7-8 minutes full. According to experiments conducted by Harvard University in the US, people who eat seven portions of food live longer.

This is because overeating over a long period will not only lead to obesity but will also seriously affect the health of the gastrointestinal tract and increase its burden. A seven-full diet can boost the body's metabolism and the excretion of metabolic waste, helping to slow down the aging process.

As the saying goes, "Walk after a meal and live to 99". Proper exercise after meals can help promote gastrointestinal motility and speed up the body's digestion and absorption of food.

However, it is important not to exercise immediately after a meal, because just after eating a full meal, the stomach will be filled with food to expand the downward movement. If you exercise suddenly and vigorously at this time, it is very likely to lead to gastric prolapse, which is not good for people's health. So it is recommended that people can rest for half an hour after a meal and then exercise properly to help digestion.

To sum up.

"Eating before bedtime" and "going to bed hungry" both have different effects on the human body, so try to avoid these two bad habits and master a healthy diet.

You can also combine a regular, healthy diet with proper exercise to maintain your health.

bodyhealthlongevity magazine
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About the Creator

Phil Holzer

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