28 May From Plate to Pillow: How Timing Your Meals Affects Sleep Apnea and Well-Being.
The relationship between OSA and metabolic diseases such as obesity is well understood and supported by consistent findings. This is so much so that obesity is a well-established leading risk factor for OSA, and OSA itself may promote further weight gain.
Studies recently have demonstrated that the timing of food intake and eating duration, independent of energy intake, play a major role in obesity. These investigations indicated that avoiding late meals, mainly night meals and close to bedtime, could reduce weight gain and lead to longer sleep duration. With reference to sleep quality, late meal timing mainly in the form of night meals can affect sleep pattern and the rate of apnea-hypopnea events.
The effect of eating close to bedtime on OSA symptoms can be evident in several ways. Late night meals, particularly rich in fat and protein, can take considerable time to digest. Further, if you are to lie down soon after consuming food, your body is still trying to break down this meal. In this digestion mode laying down puts the body in a vulnerable position which can cause stomach acid to flow back into the esophagus, leading to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a known contributor to worsening OSA.
Further, consuming meals close to bedtime can affect the body’s natural preparations for sleep. When preparing for sleep our bodies are slowing down processes to come to a rest. Eating and asking your body to digest food can thus lead to a disruption in these winding down processes and lead to disrupted sleep cycles. Linking this to OSA, disrupted sleep cycles can further exacerbate the symptoms seen in this disorder.
Acutely, late-night meals may also cause bloating and discomfort, which can further increase the difficulty of finding comfort to sleep. In some cases, these meals can cause additional pressure on the diaphragm and make it harder to breath thus amplifying OSA. Findings from Lopes et al (2019) demonstrated that dinner timing was associated with poor sleep latency, apnea-hypopnea index and poor sleep quality. The later eaters presented lower duration of REM stage sleep and experienced more hypopnea and apnea events throughout the sleep period.
Overall, it is not just about what you eat but is also about when you eat. Given the sleep disturbance and chronic diseases that patients with obstructive sleep apnea often experience, approaches to improve dietary habits and metabolic health should not be overlooked for these individuals to reduce their apnea-hypopnea index and improve overall sleep architecture.
Avoiding Meals Close to Bedtime in people with Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Complete How-to Guide and Its Benefits – The Kingsley Clinic. (2023, July 13). The Kingsley Clinic. https://thekingsleyclinic.com/respiratory-system-activity/avoiding-meals-close-to-bedtime-in-people-with-obstructive-sleep-apnea-a-complete-how-to-guide-and-its-benefits/
Lopes, V. C., Borba, M. E., Lopes, V. C., Fisberg, R. M., Paim, S. L., Teodoro, V. V., Zimberg, I. Z., & Crispim, C. A. (2019). Eating Late Negatively Affects Sleep Pattern and Apnea Severity in Individuals With Sleep Apnea. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine : JCSM : Official Publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 15(3), 383. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.7658