It's not necessary to leave two hours between dinner and bed, according to a study

• People often say that you have to leave at least two hours between dinner and bedtime.
• The idea is that it gives your body time to digest food.
• However, a new study suggests that this might not be the case.

According to a new scientific study, leaving an interval of two hours between dinner and bedtime is not necessarily beneficial for health.

It is generally thought that eating shortly before going to bed can have a long-term negative impact on your well-being, which can lead to problems such as an increased risk of cancer.

However, researchers at the Graduate School of Health Sciences at Okayama University in Japan apparently refuted this claim, saying it was unlikely that leaving a two-hour gap between your last meal of the day and your bedtime affects your blood sugar.

In Japan, the public is advised to leave two hours between dinner and bedtime at least three times a week.

For the study, published in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention and Health, researchers badyzed data collected between 2012 and 2014 from 1,573 healthy adults of middle and older age. Okayama, in western Japan.

None of the adults had underlying diabetes-related health problems, two-thirds of the cohort were women and the majority were over 65 years of age.

The team evaluated the group's diets as well as other lifestyle factors, such as weight, speed of use, level of physical activity, and whether they were smoking or not.

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During the study, researchers also monitored participants 'HbA1c levels, which indicated individuals' blood glucose levels over a two to three month period.

A minority of participants regularly went to bed within two hours of dinner.

Mean HbA1c rates in the cohort increased slightly throughout the study, from 5.2% in 2012 to 5.58% in 2013 and 2014, but the researchers concluded that the fact to leave at least two hours between meal and bedtime had very little effect on the climb.

They found that other lifestyle-related factors, such as high blood pressure, physical activity, and excessive alcohol consumption, had a more significant impact on blood glucose.

The researchers acknowledge that the study is only observational, but they believe that their results demonstrate that more emphasis needs to be placed on encouraging people to adopt a balanced lifestyle rather than encouraging them to two hours between bedtime and last meal. the day.

"Contrary to popular belief, ensuring a short interval between the last meal of the day and bedtime does not have a significant impact on HbA1c levels," they said. declared.

"More attention should be paid to healthy portions and foods, adequate sleep, avoiding smoking, consuming alcohol, and [being] overweight because these variables have had a deeper influence on the metabolic process. "