Recent research from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, found how our overnight fast can play an important role in improving heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar control without cutting calories.
Does eating at night increase the risk of heart disease?
Cardiometabolic health is a growing concern in Western populations, putting people at risk for serious diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In the United States, they think so at least 93% of adults are in less than optimal cardiometabolic healthoften the result of excessive caloric intake and insufficient activity levels. New evidence shows that while a healthy relationship with food and exercise is important, eating at night also has a significant impact.
“Our fasting window time to work with the body’s natural sleep-wake rhythm can improve coordination between the heart, metabolism and sleep,” says Dr. Daniela Grimaldi, associate professor of neurology. “They all work together to protect cardiovascular health.”
How the study was conducted
In this seven-and-a-half-week trial, 39 overweight adults between the ages of 36 and 75 were divided 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 normal caloric intake.
Main benefits: Improves heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar
The group that stopped eating at least three hours before hitting the hay produced several measurable changes:
- Night blood pressure decreased by 3.5%
- Heart rate decreased by 5% during the night
- Improvement of heart rhythm
- Blood sugar control during the day is improved
The data also showed that the pancreas works more efficiently when exposed to glucose, potentially increasing insulin production. “Not only how much and what you eat, but when you eat relative to sleep is important for the physiological benefits of time-restricted eating,” explains Dr. Phyllis Zee, corresponding author of the study and an expert in sleep medicine.
Since almost 90% of the participants followed the 3-hour interval between meals before sleep and the ability configure fasting windows by extending the rest period, medical professionals hope that this approach may provide a non-medical method of improving cardiometabolic health. The study authors now plan to refine the protocol and take it to larger multicenter trials.
