Yasmina Kattou 2:50 p.m., September 30, 2022

In the United States, researchers in Boston have found that meals eaten at night do not have the same impact on mental health as meals eaten during the day.

In France, this could concern a lot of people because nearly 44% of French people work with an atypical schedule, including 10% entirely at night.

If eating at fixed times is an adage acquired by all, it is now better to add "but not at any time".

A new study led by American researchers has indeed shown that eating at night can increase feelings of anxiety and depression.

These conclusions were published in the prestigious "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" of the United States.

The study was conducted on two groups.

People who ate during the night saw their level of depressed mood increase by 26%.

And those who ate during the day only, and stayed awake at night, did not experience any particular disturbances.

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Rising blood sugar at night

The main reason ?

The internal biological clock is disturbed when we eat out of step.

A conclusion that could influence the lives of nearly 44% of French people, who work atypical hours, including 10% at night.

"The natural rhythm of the body is not made to assimilate food at night", explains Arnaud Rabat, researcher in neuroscience and sleep specialist.

"Eating at night will cause you to infuse your body with glucose and therefore, it happens at a time when your hormones which are supposed to store or destock are not produced at the right time. It causes poor assimilation and that is perhaps this poor carbohydrate assimilation which could cause effects in terms of mood and depression”, adds the specialist.

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Avoid eating between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

So, to prevent this spike in blood sugar and therefore anxiety disorders, the study assumes that you should avoid eating at night, between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

This discovery could be beneficial for the care of people suffering from depression or other mental health disorders.