A recent study from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, has found that how we time our overnight fast may play a crucial part in improving our heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar control, without reducing calories.
Does Eating Late at Night Increase Heart Disease Risk?
Cardiometabolic health is gaining increasing concern in western populations and puts people at risk of serious conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In the United States, it is thought that at least 93% of adults have less than optimal cardiometabolic health, often the result of excessive calorie intake and inadequate activity levels. New evidence suggests that while a healthy relationship with food and exercise is essential, eating late at night is also having significant effects.
“Timing our fasting window to work with the body’s natural wake-sleep rhythms can improve the coordination between the heart, metabolism and sleep,” says Dr Daniela Grimaldi, who is an associate professor of neurology. “All of which work together to protect cardiovascular health.”
How the Study Was Conducted
During this seven-and-a-half-week experiment, 39 overweight adults aged between 36 and 75 years were put into two groups. One group continued their usual eating habits while the other group abstained from food for at least three hours before bedtime. Participants in both groups maintained their usual calorific intake.
Key Benefits: Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, and Blood Sugar Improvements
The group that stopped eating at least three hours before hitting the hay developed several measurable changes:
- Nighttime blood pressure decreased by 3.5%
- Nighttime heart rate decreased by 5%
- Improved day-to-night heartbeat rhythm
- Improved daytime blood sugar control
The data also showed that the pancreas worked more efficiently when met with glucose, potentially boosting insulin production. “It’s not only how much and what you eat, but also when you eat relative to sleep that is important for the physiological benefits of time-restricted eating,” explains Dr Phyllis Zee, who was a corresponding author on the study, and is an expert in sleep medicine.
Since nearly 90% of the participants adhered to the 3-hour eating gap before sleep, and the ability to tweak fasting windows by extending periods of rest, medical professionals hope that this approach can provide a non-medical method of improving cardiometabolic health. The study authors now plan to refine the protocol from this work and take it to larger multi-center trials.