“The toxic effects of late-night living and all-day snacking are akin to those of ‘lead and asbestos'”according to Dr. Satchin Panda, a professor at the Salk Institute in La Jolla California. His podcast talks about the dangers of eating late at night and lack of sleep that can significantly effect the bodies circadian rhythm and raise inflammation.
According to Dr. Panda, “almost every gene, hormone, brain chemical, neurotransmitter, digestive juice and enzyme in our body is programmed to turn on and off, or go up and down, every 24 hours.”
During sleep, we produce growth hormone that helps repair damaged cells. If we get inadequate sleep, we have less of this growth hormone present to repair our cells. In addition, if we eat late in the evening, our stomach, pancreas, liver and other organs are unprepared and leaves little time for the body to repair itself. Over time, these conditions lead to chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, dementia, acid reflux, and irritable bowel. Once you re-set your circadian rhythm, these problems can be fixed.
The simple solution (but not simple for many) is to eat all your food within an 8-12 hour window beginning about 30 minutes after awakening. Research found that when overweight people restricted their eating to a 10-hour window, they lost 4% of their body weight in 4 months without altering their diet.
Not eating at night and getting morning sunlight can synchronize our body clocks.
Do your best to eat your last meal around 6 PM.
STEM-Talk – Dr. Satchin Panda on Circadian Rhythms and Time-Restricted Eating to Improve Health
Detwiler, J. Timing is Everything: Adjust your daily clock to change your life. AARP The Magazine. Oct/Nov 2019 p. 50
