Why Eating Dinner Earlier Is One of the Most Underrated Sleep Hacks

Most people blame sleep issues on stress or screens. But very often, the real issue is digestion happening at the wrong time.

When you eat late, your body has to choose:
Digest food
OR
Enter deep repair mode

It can’t do both well.

Eating earlier allows digestion to complete before melatonin rises and body temperature drops - two critical signals for high-quality sleep.

Eating late:

- Keep heart rate elevated into the night
- Increase nighttime blood sugar fluctuations
- Disrupt REM and deep sleep
- Increase overnight inflammation

Eating early:
- Faster sleep onset
- Lower nighttime heart rate
- Improved growth hormone release
- More stable blood sugar through the night

A simple rule of thumb: Finish dinner about 3 hours before sleep, whenever possible.

This isn’t about restriction, it’s about alignment. When digestion winds down earlier, your body can do what sleep is actually designed for: repair, detoxify, and reset.

To you vitality,
Lizanne