Maybe it’s time to rethink the concept of a midnight snack. New research shows eating a meal or even a snack late at night may hinder learning and memory.
The University of California-Los Angeles study found eating at night, when you should be sleeping, disrupts the body’s internal clock and that can affect cognitive functions, the
Today Show on NBC reports.
The research involved mice, but the general principles apply to people, said Christopher Colwell, one of the experts and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA. Modern life often requires long and odd work schedules, but your body needs to stick to a specific cycle to stay healthy, he added.
“We have this illusion that with the flip of a switch, we can work at any time and part of that is eating at any time,” Colwell told Today. “But our biological systems — that’s not the way they work. They work based on having a daily rhythm.”
The circadian rhythm follows a 24-hour cycle and regulates everything from our behavior to the release of hormones. Disrupting that sleep-wake cycle can trigger type 2 diabetes and immune system problems, studies have shown.
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