Eating before bedtime should be avoided because it can harm one’s health and psychological state. Eating before bedtime is bad for most people. Those that train late at night may see benefits from eating late, but for most people this can lead to problems. After eating a meal, one should rest for around two to three hours before going to bed. This will allow enough time for the food to be digested to ensure that you don’t go to bed with a full stomach.

Here are some of the effects of eating before bed:

Weight Gain

If you eat and go to bed immediately, you will risk gaining weight. At night when your body is at rest you don’t need a lot of energy. Therefore the digested food will be converted to glycogen and fat and stored in the body. Excessive weight gain is a factor that can be linked to so many health problems in the body. It is associated with hypertension, diabetes and many other diseases. It can also lower one’s self esteem which will in turn affect productivity at work or in school. Therefore if you don’t want to risk all these problems, you should take your meal a few hours before you go to bed.

Insomnia

When you sleep with a full stomach, you will be very uncomfortable and it can potentially lead to insomnia. You will not be able to get enough sleep and rest as required. An average adult should have 8 hours of interrupted sleep everyday so that the body will be able to function well. When you eat immediately before bedtime, you are likely to sleep fewer hours than recommended.

You Become Less Productive During the Day

If you don’t get enough sleep, you will be not function well the following day. This is due to lack of enough sleep and restlessness during the night. If you were awake for the better part of the night, you are likely to feel tired and sickly during the day. In such a case you will be a poor performer at school or at your workplace. With decreased productivity you risk losing your job and as a student you will not be able to achieve your goals. Therefore, you should not go to bed with a full stomach to ensure that you get enough sleep for better productivity the following day.

Heart Burn

Another problem that you are likely to experience when you sleep on a full stomach is heart burn. While you are sleeping, digestion is likely to be very slow and thus some of the food that you took is likely to ferment before it is digested. This is especially the food that was eaten in form of simple sugars. When the food ferments, an acid is formed, which can lead to heartburn. Another factor that will contribute to heartburn is the position the esophagus assumes when you lie down to sleep.

Nightmares and Bad Dreams

Nightmares and bad dreams are also common among individuals who sleep immediately after eating supper.

Colon Cancer

Digestion at night is slow and food can sit in the stomach for a very long time, increasing the risk of contacting colon cancer. If the food, especially the lipids, stay in the digestive system for long, they will coagulate, become difficult to digest and thus increase the risk of contacting colon cancer.

Tips to Avoid Eating Before Bedtime

• Eat smaller meals throughout the day with snacks in between. Breakfast should be the heaviest meal, lunch should be average and dinner should be the lightest. If you work in a busy office, you should pack a lunch or snacks to work in the morning so as to ensure that you don’t skip any meals. If you don’t have time to fix that in the morning, you should order from a restaurant that serves good and healthy food. You can look for one with a free delivery if you don’t want to mess up your schedule. If you eat well throughout the day, you will not have an urge to a lot of food in the evening. The bedtime snack is not compulsory, but if you must take one, makes sure that you have a healthy one like a fruit for example.

• If you are planning for dinner with friends, colleagues and family, make sure that you serve the dinner as early as possible. You should take your dinner first and then hang around to chat after the meal. This way you will allow food to be digested before you go to bed.

• Research healthy meal plans for your dinner so that you eat foods that are easy to digest. There are a lot of recipes on the Internet that you can use to plan your meals throughout the day so that dinner will be the lightest.

Source

http://www.experienceproject.com/question-answer/Why-Shouldnt-One-Eat-Before-Bed/3049
http://www.daveywaveyfitness.com/nutrition/myth-busted-should-you-not-eat-before-bed
http://www.shapefit.com/how-long-before-bed-stop-eating.html