Why I Brush My Teeth before 8 p.m.
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It happens to all of us
The meetings and phone calls are over, after-school activities are behind you, dinner is cleaned up, the kids are in bed. It’s no wonder our brains tell us right around this time, “A snack sounds great.” Why does this happen? There are many reasons we might feel peckish after dinner:
- Actual hunger. This could be why you’re craving a snack, but how often does this really happen? I know there are days where you either haven’t taken the time to eat or you’ve been so stressed that you completely forgot to eat or had no appetite. But ask yourself if you’re truly hungry before pinning your cravings on hunger.
- Stress. Are you anxious about a work project? Angry at someone? Lonely? There are lots of causes for stress. Sometimes stress makes people lose their appetite; other times it makes them want to eat. This is a vicious cycle of stress-eating, and then stressing about overeating.
- “I deserve a treat.” It’s been a long day, you’ve been running around since morning, you took care of that nagging errand or work project – you deserve a treat!
- Boredom. Sigh. Everything on Netflix is boring. Eat all the things!
- Ego depletion. This happens in two totally different ways, but it’s basically when you’ve lost your willpower. In some cases, you’ve been “good” all day and you’re just plain tired of all the lettuce and grilled chicken breast. Believe me, I get it. Alternatively, you already ate a donut at work this afternoon, so what’s the point of being good now? Might as well have that leftover brownie and start over tomorrow.
- Habit. This is likely the reason most people snack in the evening – it’s just habit. As we all know, habits can be pretty tough to break (unless they’re good habits – those ones are, of course, much easier to break than the bad ones).
Why is this a problem?
So, what’s the big deal if you have a snack before bed? Studies show that the closer to bedtime you consume your calories, the more likely you are to suffer from:
- Weight gain. First of all, you are not choosing celery as your late-night snack. You are likely eating more calories on a daily basis than you would be in you just stopped eating after dinner. But, research is starting to show that in the case of late-night snacking, a calorie is not simply a calorie. Calories consumed later at night (especially carbs) are more likely to be stored as fat while we sleep because they are not being burned for fuel, so it matters when you are consuming your calories.
- Heart disease and heart attack. Our blood pressure starts out higher in the morning and gradually gets lower throughout the day. It should drop by about 10% at night, but when we’ve just eaten a big snack or meal, your blood pressure will stay elevated. Additionally, people who eat later at night have higher cholesterol and triglyceride levels. All of this increases your risk for heart disease and heart attacks.
- Diabetes. Eating late at night raises your glucose and insulin levels when they should be low, which is a precursor for Type 2 diabetes.
- Heartburn/acid reflux. Lying in bed less than 2 hours after a meal or heavy snack makes it easier for undigested food and stomach acids to travel back up your esophagus.
Things to try
Ok, if you are actually hungry because you haven’t eaten properly all day, then by all means, eat something. However, none of the reasons listed above, INCLUDING hunger, are a good reason to consume empty calories before bedtime. This is when you should be reaching for whole foods like nuts, yogurt, fruit or vegetables, cheese, etc. Junk food like chocolate, candy, chips, cookies is not what your body needs if you’re hungry. Now, if you’ve determined that you’re not really hungry, then you don’t need a snack. Here are some methods to curb late-night snacking that you need to try before you start putting food in your face after dinner:
- Eat properly at dinnertime. This seems obvious, but are you eating a good dinner? You need to be eating enough fiber and protein to feel satisfied.
- Turn off the TV and put down your phone. If you must eat, you will likely eat a lot less if you’re paying attention to what you’re eating and the fact that you’re eating.
- Drink a glass of water. Drink something and have something small like a piece of fruit to see if it helps with your craving.
- Turn on a 25 minute timer. I do this often during the day. If I have a craving, I just tell myself to wait 25 minutes. If I’m still hungry when the timer goes off, I have a snack or a SMALL treat.
- Enforce a food cut-off. After I finish dinner (for me, this is usually no later than 6:30 p.m.), I tell myself (and people who try to get me to have a little taste of something) that “the eating portion of my day is over.” In my mind, I’m done eating for the night, and that’s that. This will not work for everyone, but it will if you have a pretty rigid personality like I do.
- Brush your teeth. If I brush my teeth right after dinner, or at least as soon as we get the kids in bed, the eating portion of my night is DEFINITELY over. This works well for many people.
Why brushing my teeth works for me
Brushing my teeth is the one method that is almost fool-proof for me. I say “almost” because I remember when I was pregnant with my twins, I would wake up so hungry that I didn’t care one bit about the fact that it was 3 a.m. and that I was going to go back to sleep without brushing my teeth. I kept a mini fridge near our bedroom upstairs filled with cheese and chocolate milk boxes. Those were the days.
So when I say I brush my teeth, I’m not talking a quick 30-second swish with a little toothpaste on a brush. I read somewhere once that “the way you do anything is the way you do everything,” and as an example, they said to look at the way you brush your teeth. WELL. I am kind of a weirdo and have a very structured dental care routine in place. First, there’s the Waterpik (everyone needs a Waterpik, by the way). Then I start up my Sonicare electric toothbrush, which beeps every 30 seconds. I brush the inner bottom quadrant for the first 30 seconds, then the outer bottom quadrant for another 30. Then I switch to the inner upper quadrant, then the outer upper quadrant. Oh. . . and I stand on my left leg for the first whole minute, then I switch to the right leg (I swear I’m not a psycho – I just read that doing balancing poses while doing routine tasks can do all sorts of great things for your brain, including possibly reducing your likelihood of getting dementia and Alzheimers, so. Yeah.).
Guys. The thought of having to RE-DO this whole routine again before I actually go to bed. . . .sorry, but no snack is worth it to me (and I can’t go to bed with dirty teeth – ick). If you’re truly a Lazy Girl at heart like me, the thought of having to re-do your entire tooth brushing extravaganza before bed should dissuade you from eating again.
I need to hear from you on this!
Are you a stress-eater, or are you just in the habit of snacking after dinner? What have you tried to keep cravings at bay? What has worked, and what hasn’t? I am SO curious to hear your perspective on what works for YOU and what hasn’t, so please comment and let me know!
