Entering my freshman year, eating late at night while doing homework or studying has already become a regular routine. The freshman 15 is a common concern but I have been pondering a different aspect of weight gain. I have heard myths for years claiming that eating at night, right before you sleep, makes you gain weight. Now that these myths may affect my eating habits and daily routine, I want to know if they are valid. Does eating at night have a different affect on my body than eating during the day? And does the time between when I eat and when I go to sleep matter?
Beth Israel Deaconess claims that late night eating is technically not the cause of weight gain. It looks like throughout the years of myths, an observational study developed. People began to hypothesize that their late night eating was the cause of all of their weight gain. While this is probable causality, scientists investigated the concern with experimental study. Researchers used animal testing, which we know to be a good indicator for human results. They found that monkeys who tended to eat later in the day did not gain any more weight than those who ate early. While it is in support of the hypothesis that eating late does not cause weight gain, it is not evidence. The evidence supporting the claim is the fact that your metabolism does not slow when you go to sleep. Your metabolism is the combination of all chemical reactions in the body that work toward “maintaining the living state of the cells and the organism”. While you are not as active, your body still must perform bodily functions. A true reason for what gain is not when you eat but what you eat. I found it interesting that those who eat late usually choose to eat unhealthy snack foods because they eat out of boredom and not hunger. This is the true reason for higher calorie intake, and in turn, higher weight gain.

The NY Times published an article in support of this idea. The article included a study investigating further the timing of a person’s normal sleep hours and the correlation with their quality and amount of food intake.