How Many Hours Before Bed Should You Stop Eating For Healthy Digestion?

What you eat and drink goes through a complicated process upon ingestion. Digestion breaks down solids and liquids, allowing for the absorption of vitamins and minerals necessary to feed cells and energize the body. To keep digestion running smoothly, it is important to regulate your eating habits, especially before going to bed.

Two-Hour Rule

Before and during sleep, your body enters a relaxed state. Forcing it to digest a late meal can make relaxation impossible. Furthermore, lying down to go to sleep after eating a late dinner or midnight snack makes it impossible for gravity to hold food and liquids in place so stomach acids can do their job. According to Minnesota State University Mankato, you should cease eating at least two hours prior to going to bed for the night.

Mechanism

As the day unwinds, your body's metabolism begins to slow down in preparation for bedtime. As metabolism drops, so does body temperature. Columbia University explains that the drop in body temperature is necessary for sleep states. The digestion process raises body heat, interfering with your body's ability to get some shut-eye. Poor sleep rhythms brought on by improper eating habits can lead to health conditions such as acid reflux, which occurs when stomach acid backs up into the esophagus.

Liquids

Just like solids, consuming liquids before bed throws off your sleep and digestion. According to St. Norbert College Health and Wellness Services, the digestion process might keep you awake at night if you drink fluids too close to bedtime. Aside from digestion keeping you awake, the urge to urinate during the night will further exacerbate the problem. Follow the two-hour rule for drinking just as you should for solid foods. If you drink alcohol, stop drinking four to six hours prior to turning in for the night.

Weight Gain Controversy

Poor digestion resulting from eating before bed might contribute to weight gain, according to Brigham Young University. Because your body is at rest and no exercise is happening when you sleep, some researchers believe going to bed with a full stomach causes the food to turn to fat. Others believe a small snack has no bearing on weight gain. Regardless of which theory is correct, the bottom line is that eating before bed interferes with getting a good night's sleep.