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Eating late at night when you can’t sleep can lead to problems beyond weight gain – it may compromise your concentration and alertness.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania report that adults consume about 500 extra calories late at night when their sleep is limited.
To investigate the effects of those excess calories, the researchers gave 44 adults ages 21 to 50 unrestricted access to food and drink but allowed them to sleep for only four hours a night for three nights.
On the fourth night, 20 of the participants could eat and drink all they wanted, while 24 were prevented from snacking – they were allowed to drink only water from 10 p.m. until their 4 a.m. bedtime. Each night at 2 a.m. during the study all the participants took tests to evaluate their working memory, cognitive skills, sleepiness, stress levels and mood.
Participants who drank only water after 10 p.m. performed better on tests of reaction time and attention than those who had eaten, even though both groups had the same sleep restrictions.
Source(s):
livestrong.com
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