A New Study Says When You Eat Is More Important Than When You Sleep

Food & Wine ^ | April 11, 2025 | Stacey Leasca

[nickcarraway]

Ping

[grey_whiskers]

Thanks very much!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Wonder why they did not control for night time only eaters?

[EnderWiggin1970]

I’m in trouble.

[nickcarraway]

YW

[aynrandfreak]

Our study controlled for every factor that you could imagine that could affect the results, so we can say

That's a fancy way of saying, "our opinion is..."

[BipolarBob]

I put on a feedbag in the morning so I can eat throughout the day hands free. Usually filled with Frosted Sugar Bombs or such. Lunch time I'll switch it up with Chicken McNuggets. And supper some kind of pasta. Take it off at bedtime and clean it out and get ready for another day.

[SamAdams76]

Perfect. You appear to be a modern American!

[KarlInOhio]

Was this from the Journal of Gremlin Science? Am I supposed to avoid bright lights and water too?

[nickcarraway]

It can’t hurt.

[xkaydet65]

What are daytime hours? 6PM is daytime in Spring in DST but 90 minutes after sunset in Dec.

[onthelookout777]

“What are daytime hours? 6PM is daytime in Spring in DST but 90 minutes after sunset in Dec.”

I have the same question.

Are they saying that throughout the year, it’s best to eat only between sunrise and sunset?

[Jyotishi]

What if you eat while you’re sleepy?

[SkyDancer]

Eat when you’re hungry, sleep when you can.

[mass55th]

I have GERD and a hiatal hernia. My Gastroenterologist told me years ago to try not to eat anything after 8 p.m., because your stomach produces most of the acid in your stomach when you sleep. It only stands to reason that anyone with digestive problems shouldn't be stuffing their face with large meals and spicy food before you go to sleep. It's takes longer for women to digest food than it does men. The digestion process is also affected by age, activity, medications, and other things.

I'm a 77 year old female, and I digest food very slowly. I can eat something at 5 or 6 p.m., and I'll still taste it when I burp 8 or 9 hours later. I only eat twice a day, and take two pills a day, a half-hour prior to eating for my GERD. I also keep bananas on hand to eat before bedtime (which is usually 4 a.m. or later), just in case I think something I ate for supper might come back to haunt me hours later. The potassium in the bananas works well for to prevent acid reflux during the night.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

That was why I asked the question I did.

I am a day eater during the summer and a night eater during the winter. Now I do tend to have to be more careful during the winter but I am not as active in the winter.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Food is rest and rest is food.

If you are short on food you can compensate by taking more rest breaks. If you are short of rest you can compensate by eating more.

This works short term and when you are doing physical labor.

If you are working at an office job, have a cup of ginseng.

[xkaydet65]

I cannpt believe it has to do with actual daylight, but with time. Heck at the western end of the timezones in US it’s still light at 9:30 in July.

[onthelookout777]

Here’s the study:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57846-y

Maybe someone can wade through it and decipher exactly when it’s recommended that we eat.

Sunrise to sunset?