Stop eating before bed

This is a reminder for me, but also a reminder for you. 

I recently got a Fenix 6, which is a smart sports watch. The watch tracks my sleep, and according to the internet, it’s pretty accurate. I’ve been using it to track my sleep for 2 months now, and I’ve discovered something interesting. 

The watch provides me with basic information, like how long I’ve slept, as well as the type of sleep you got—light sleep, deep sleep, REM, awake. Based on this information, it’ll give my sleep a grade from 0-100. A score of 50 means I had awful low-quality sleep. 100 means I had perfect, high-quality sleep. This grade is determined based on how much deep sleep, REM sleep, and light sleep you got. 

This grade syncs with another feature called Body Battery. Body Battery measures how much energy you expend during the day and how much energy you recharge with your sleep. If I get a perfect 8 hours of sleep, I’ll start my day with my Body Battery at 100. If I’m very active and have a high-stress day, I might finish the day out with 12 in my Body Battery. 

This has been fairly accurate. When I feel tired, my body battery reflects it. When I feel energetic, my body battery reflects it. If I wake up refreshed, my body battery and sleep tracker agrees, and when I wake up groggy and tired, you guessed it, the body battery says so too. 

With these features, I’ve come to notice a trend. Anytime I eat after 8 pm, my sleep quality is negatively affected. I could get 8.5 hours of sleep and only charge my body battery 70%. 

I figured if I was to do an accurate test, I should try the inverse. Eat a well-balanced diet, and cut off eating any food after 7 pm. Sure enough, even if I only get 7 hours of sleep, my body battery is fully charged in the morning. 

It’s a pretty neat feature. I knew eating before bed was a bad idea, but now I have statistical proof that it negatively affects my sleep. 

So this is a reminder for you and me, don’t eat before bed.

Make it a great day or not; the choice is yours!

T