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With wearables that track resting heart rate and HRV, you can see that your body gets better rest and sleep when you stop eating around three hours before bed.
by 762236 4y ago
With wearables that track resting heart rate and HRV, you can see that your body gets better rest and sleep when you stop eating around three hours before bed.
- anonymouskimmer 4y agoYou should (typically, when not fasting), however, eat before bed. At least personally I find it more difficult to sleep on an empty stomach than one that's been filled anytime before bed.
- lumb63 4y agoYMMV, but I’ve found my own results to be (to my surprise) in contradiction with that. For me, a meal close to bed is associated with about a 9% increase in subjective sleep quality, and 13% increase in sleep quantity. I’ve been using an app called Bearable to log such info for about 4 months now. Sadly I don’t have HRV data correlations (they’re working on that!). A few theories I have for why this is the case: More carbs before bed increases muscle and liver glycogen (assuming your stores are not full. Mine usually are not since I typically work out in the evening) which requires water to store. Henceforth, carbs close to bed should lower chances that you have to get up to urinate during the night. Carbs also lower cortisol levels and thus may promote relaxation. Amino acids in meat like tryptophan also create a feeling of sleepiness (post-Thanksgiving nap, anyone?). Maybe there’s something to the whole “rest and digest” after all.