Dr Valter Longo heads up the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California – here’s a tip he recommends
Sticking to one 12-hour rule may be the key to longevity, a leading expert has claimed. Dr Valter Longo has investigated the biology of ageing and disease throughout his career, heading up the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California.
While a typical Brit lives to around 80 years old, Dr Longo asserts that you can ‘stay young’ for longer, if you are willing to live by certain rules. Keeping up a high-vitamin diet, minimising saturated fats and even eating more olive oil are among the starting points he recommends – but there’s one tip about sleep that might surprise you.
“Confine all eating to within a 12-hour period,” he wrote in a previous online blog. “For example, start after 8a.m. and end before 8 p.m. Don’t eat anything within three to four hours of bedtime.”
He also added: “Follow a diet with high vitamin and mineral content, supplemented with a multivitamin buffer every three days.” Dr Longo certainly isn’t alone in his thoughts, with various studies lauding the benefits of eating earlier in the day too.
This includes research from 2014 where Harvard scientists analysed the eating habits of 26,902 men across 16 years. Each individual reported on the times of day they consumed breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as any additional snacks.
The team were especially keen to understand how these patterns affected cardiovascular health and disease risk. Figures from the British Heart Foundation suggest that heart and circulatory diseases are responsible for a quarter of all deaths in the UK alone.
Interestingly, results showed that men who ate later in the evening had a 55% higher cardiovascular risk, compared with those who didn’t. Meanwhile, men who skipped breakfast also had a 27% higher risk of cardiovascular disease than others who prioritised it.
At the time, its authors wrote: “Although there was some overlap between those who skipped breakfast and those who ate late at night, 76% of late night eaters ate breakfast (data not shown). Men who reported that they ate late at night were more likely to smoke, sleep less than seven hours a night, or have baseline hypertension as compared to men who did not eat late at night.
“The late night eating abstainers were more likely to be married and work full time and ate on average one time less per day that the late night eaters.”
Aside from this, late dinners can trigger other discomforting issues too. This is especially true for acid reflux and heartburn, which makes it difficult for some individuals to doze off.
Helen Bell, a nutritionist at the UK Care Guide, previously told the Mirror: “When you lie down soon after eating, it can lead to acid reflux or heartburn due to the stomach acid travelling back up the oesophagus.
“I would [also] say that eating before bed can contribute to weight gain. With my clients, I’ve observed that late-night eating often leads to the consumption of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods like snacks and desserts. These foods are more likely to be stored as fat because your metabolism slows down during sleep.”
For anyone who can’t stop snacking late at night, it’s crucial to note that some food choices are better than others. Further evidence indicates that spicy foods, sugary products and even papaya consumption are linked to worsened sleep.
But other items like bananas, yoghurt and oats contain tryptophan – a chemical associated with increased relaxation. Rosey Davidson, author and sleep consultant at Just Chill Baby Sleep, previously explained: “Nuts, such as almonds and walnuts, are packed with magnesium and melatonin, while turkey is an excellent source of tryptophan [too].
“Chamomile tea is also worth mentioning, as it contains apigenin, an antioxidant that may reduce insomnia and promote relaxation.”
