For night owls or workaholics, the best time to eat dinner is whenever you can snag that dream restaurant reservation or work in a meal into your busy schedule. But is that the healthiest choice? When should you really be eating your last meal of the day? It turns out the answer to this is less straightforward than you might think.
For starters, no set time suits everyone; it depends on you and your specific health needs. So before you go cancelling plans or overhauling when to eat see what experts say about figuring out the best time to eat dinner below.
When is the best time to eat dinner?
The short answer to this question is that it depends on each person. Vanessa Rissetto, RD, registered dietician and CEO of Culina Health, explains that different factors such as age and lifestyle all play into figuring out when to eat your last meal of the day. “If you’re a shift worker, for example, and work while everyone is asleep, then your timing [to eat] is different. As a general rule, I recommend eating within two hours of waking up and eating something every three to four hours,” says Risetto. While studies suggest that eating between 5 PM and 7 PM is beneficial for overall health, if that doesn’t fit your schedule, she says to try to stop eating at least three hours before bed to avoid issues like acid reflux.
“What’s more important is eating consistently at regular times throughout the day,” Perri Halperin, MS, RD, CDN, clinical nutrition coordinator at the Mount Sinai Health System. “You should be gradually hungry and gradually full in a repeating pattern every three to four hours or so.”