Eating Late: When you should eat your last meal if you want a good night’s sleep

Just as your mother told you, the time you eat the last meal of the day can determine whether you are going to suffer from a sleepless night of stomach acid pains or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux).

Ideally, say researchers, the last meal of the day should be eaten six hours before you go to bed if you are a GERD sufferer and you want a trouble-free sleep.  GERD sufferers who eat just two hours before bedtime are almost certainly going to experience digestion pains in the night.

Researchers tested the theory on a group of 30 GERD patients who were given a ‘standard meal’ six hours before bedtime on one day, and then two hours before bed on the following day.  Their stomach acid levels were measured over a 48-hour period with a pH system.

Interestingly, the researchers’ idea of a standard meal was a McDonald’s Big Mac, fries and a can of carbonated drink!

(Source: American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2007; 102: 2128-34).