Hello! I am new to IF and looking to start. I want to find what will work for me and I’m curious about if the timing of when you go to sleep daily matters? Do I need to stop eating x number of hours before sleep? Currently I tend to have my final meal before 8pm and go to sleep around 11pm. Should I be stopping sooner? Does it even matter? Sorry if this is something already covered I looked at the wiki and faq and didn’t see anything and could not find the answer elsewhere.
Most sources say the majority of pre-digestion is done within 3 hours… so stopping 3 or more hours before bed is recognised as best. I don’t think the consensus is in about anything more than the 3 hour window…
I found that eating about an hour before I go to bed helps my sleep immensely, so that’s what I do.
Like you, I’ve read that you should stop eating a few hours before bed but most sources say it’s because it improves your sleep quality; since that has not been my experience, I just do what works best for me and that’s to eat fairly close to when I go to bed.
I also end my eating time at 8pm and then break my fast at 2pm the next day. Been considering to change my eating window to end at 6pm so I could feel less full by bedtime around 9pm.
Tomorrow I’ll end my eating time at 6pm so I could reset my fasting and eating schedule.
In general I would guess that its better to end the eating window earlier in the evening provided its when you go to sleep so that you dont have a full stomach of food and laying down in bed trying to sleep and digest food.