The Shocking Health Cost of That Midnight Snack
You probably realize that Late night munching packs on the pounds….but eating too late in the night will cost you much more than you realize!
Today you will learn about newly released research on how reducing your calorie intake in the evening can dramatically extend your life span. Here is what the animal study showed: Science, May 2022
- Mice that ate as much and whenever they wanted lived for about 800 days. that’s an average lifespan for mice. Probably not reassuring if you find a mouse in your house!
- So here is where it gets a bit interesting: Restricting calories by 1/3 alone; so it didn’t matter what time of day or night they ate… helped the mice live 10% longer – to 875 days. So if you apply this to humans just for fun: you could eat 1/3 less than you normally do and you can eat any time you want…but that might only extend your life by 10%.
When calories were restricted and food offered only during a specific time period, the mice lived nearly 20% more….to an average of 959 days.
- But, check this out. Offering less calories, but only during the active time period of their circadian cycle extended the median life span to about 1,068 days, and that’s an increase of almost 35% over the unrestricted eaters.
This approach to eating and fasting…..is called circadian rhythm fasting, and basically involves eating during a set period of time, usually during the day when we are most active. And the benefits happen because when you Eat for a limited amount of time per day you give all the cells in the body time to rest. So, your insulin levels come down and nutrient signaling pathways come up which prepares your body to make the most appropriate responses to food, activity and rest.
Of course, studies in humans need to be conducted to see if these results correlate, but it is exciting to think about AND substantiates the value of intermittent fasting. If you want to learn more about intermittent fasting, watch this youtube clip.