What’s for dinner?

I have already written about the importance of not eating too close to bedtime, and how our sleep quality increases if we consume our last meal of the day at least 2-3 hours from the time that we fall asleep. 

In this article, I’m going to focus on discussing the interactions between the content of your last meal and the effect that this has on your sleep. 

This all comes down to the inter-relationship between two important hormones; Insulin & Prolactin.

• Insulin is a hormone which regulates the level of glucose in your blood (your blood sugar). Your body secretes insulin in response to the digestion of a meal, particularly those high in carbohydrates (glucose) which require the action of insulin to use or store the energy (sugar) obtained from these foods.
• Prolactin has several functions, but here we are concerned with its ability to help the brain effectively undergo a process called autophagy (self-cleaning) whilst...

For millions of years, our ancestors were only able to hunt and gather throughout the hours of daylight. This likely meant that they had very limited if any, access to food late at night. 

Researchers in the area of chronobiology (exploring how circadian processes affect health) have now discovered circadian clock genes that control the function of our digestion and metabolism.

The latest science suggests that our digestive enzymes and various other aspects of the digestion process function best during a specific time window of the day.

This ‘circadian eating window’ may span approximately 10-12 hours from the time at which you consume your first food or drink of the day (not including water). 

The circadian digestive process has implications for various areas of health including appetite regulation, nutrient absorption, weight management, sleep quality and the vulnerability for developing digestive disorders including reflux, ulcers,...