Women's Health: Late-Night Snacking May Harm Your Heart

How late women consume the bulk of their calories each day could affect their heart health. New research shows late-night snacking could pose cardiovascular risks, specifically to women. Here’s what experts know so far about the connection.

When You Eat Is as Important as What You Eat

The American Heart Association (AHA) has issued a warning that especially applies to all the women out there: Keep an eye on the clock if you want to do everything you can for your heart. According to their news release, women who eat the bulk of their calories in the evenings are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease.

The AHA conducted their study using a free app it provides to help users follow and improve their health. The app, Life’s Simple 7, tracks the seven biggest controllable factors that can affect heart disease risks: smoking status, physical activity, food choices, body weight and levels of cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. 

Those seven variables are of course important and ones we should all take control of and watch for ourselves, but in the course of this study, they found that one more variable stood out when it came to determining heart disease risks: Women who took in the bulk of their daily calories in the evenings were more likely to suffer some type of cardiac event. And that's concerning. These people were also more likely to have higher blood pressure, higher body mass indexes and more problems regulating their blood sugar, all issues that can contribute to cardiovascular disease.

And as one might expect, the higher the percentage of calories consumed at night, the greater the risks.

Promoting a Healthy Heart via Mealtime Choices

Part of what’s behind these dangers could have to do with what eating late does to our hormones. One study found that melatonin, the body’s major sleep hormone, reduces insulin levels at night, so late-night eating can cause spikes in blood sugar that may last well into the next day. Melatonin also appears to affect other aspects of our metabolism, possibly even causing increased body fat in people who tended to eat when their melatonin levels were high.

According to the AHA, women can reduce their overall risks by consuming the bulk of their calories before 6:00 p.m. Post-evening might only include a cup of green tea or just plain water. And while we know this sounds strict, the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience and believe it or not, we really do just and get used to it after making these tough choices for a little while. Then it becomes an old habit, and we could all use some more healthy habits.

Those interested in pursuing even more benefits can further cut their chances of heart problems by taking charge of those other seven factors. Tackle them one at a time if needs be; lifestyle changes can be hard, but each one could buy precious extra years.

Most people can live long, productive lives if they play their cards right, but risk factors can work against even the healthiest among us and quickly derail our plans. Heart disease is our number one killer, so why not do everything possible to stave it off? You know the saying: Timing is everything. Consider moving dinnertime up an hour or two and cutting out any evening snacks. For such a small change, the payoff could be huge.

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