Want to stay fit? Then, stop eating late at night.

With the ever-changing lifestyle of humans and their needs, so changes their eating habits. It is often seen that youngsters these days are getting into a habit of having dinner during the late hours of the night.
But if you’re to stay a healthy and fit sports person, you ought to follow certain things, a schedule, and discipline over your time and eating habits!

The habit of eating late at night puts us all, sports enthusiasts in grave danger and here is a list of reasons why:

1. Weight gain

One of the most important reasons. Why you should avoid eating late at night is due to the possible risk of weight gain associated with this habit. While many people are aware of the fact that eating late may contribute to weight gain. They are not always aware of how this can happen.
Increases in your body weight during this period of time are caused by changes in the rate at which your metabolism functions during sleeping versus waking hours.

When you eat during the day, you are relatively active, and your metabolism is functioning rapidly. In contrast, during sleep, your metabolism has slowed quite a bit. And because of this, the food that you have recently eaten will be metabolized and digested at a much slower rate.
This contributes to increases in body weight and possible obesity. People who are trying to lose weight should avoid eating at least two hours before they go to bed.

If you must have something to snack on in the evening. Consider choosing fruits, vegetables or other products which are low in fat and calories.

2. Disturbed sleep cycle

Another important reason why you may want to avoid eating late is due to the effect it can have on your sleep cycle. Research has found that the digestive process can have serious implications for your sleep cycle. Causing you to wake up more often, and have a harder time falling asleep in the first place.

One of the worst foods that you can eat if you have a hard time falling asleep at night is sugary foods. Such as cookies and other baked goods. In contrast, chamomile tea or warm milk may actually help you fall asleep at night.
Thus late night snacks make you sleep in an irregular pattern and makes you feel lethargic.

3. Increased urination and excretion needs

One more reason why you may want to avoid eating late at night. Is that doing so may increase the number of times that you need to get up to use the restroom during the night?
Eating late at night will result in food being digested during your sleeping hours. And because of this, you may need to wake up to eliminate the waste products.

If you are really hungry late at night, consider eating foods with high amounts of fiber, such as whole grains. These products take a long time to digest, and won’t need to be excreted for at least eight hours.

4. Increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

What and how much you eat can affect your blood sugars both overnight and the next morning. Especially if your snack choices are carbohydrate foods, like crackers, chips, or fruit.
Your diabetes medicine may not completely “covers” excessive eating at night. And you may be unpleasantly surprised the next morning when you check your blood sugar. And find that it’s higher than desired.

There are ways to prevent those morning high readings: Choose lower-carb snacks. Such as nuts, lower-fat cheese, raw veggies, or a hard-boiled egg, for example.
Some carbohydrate may be OK to eat, such as 15-20 grams-worth. A small piece of fruit or 6 ounces of light-style yogurt, for instance.
Otherwise, if you prefer to eat later at night, talk with your doctor about adjusting your medication to better handle late-night eating.

5. Might raise the risk of breast cancer

A new study published shows that night time eating may raise the risk of breast cancer, as well as Type 2 diabetes.
The authors of the study found that fasting overnight is necessary for health and helps the body metabolism work in sync with the body’s sleep-wake cycles. In this study, for every three extra hours of fasting at night, women were 20% less likely to have high blood sugars and a lower risk of illness.

Previous research has shown that women with Type 2 diabetes have a 23% higher risk of getting breast cancer. And night-shift workers also have a higher risk of breast cancer. Of course, this is a single study, so more work needs to be done in this area. But, it’s food for thought, especially if you’re at risk for getting Type 2 diabetes or breast cancer.

6. Can affect learning and memory

A study done shows that when humans should be sleeping, if were fed. Showed that they had extreme difficulty in remembering what they had learned. They also had trouble with object recognition.

And it’s based on-again-the disruption of the sleep-wake cycle. Once your internal clock gets messed up, a whole host of problems, including learning and memory troubles, can set in.

7. Raises the risk for acid reflux

There’s no surprise here: Chowing down after everyone else has gone to bed may seem like a good idea. But there’s a price to pay: heartburn. Lying down after eating (at any time of the day or night) can cause acid from the stomach to “backwash” into the esophagus, causing pain, burning, and shortness of breath.

Continued episodes of heartburn may show gastro-esophageal reflux disease or GERD. Which, if not treated, can lead to further problems over time. If you do eat at night, choose lower-fat, nonacidic foods, watch your portions, and allow at least two hours to pass before lying down.

One must try to avoid eating late at night and reduce the risk of health deterioration. There are many people who work late and are used to having meals during the late hours. But you must remember the harmful effects this thing has on your health!!

Play, maintain a schedule, and always eat on time!