A woman in midlife shares her love of having a sweet treat at night and asks: is nighttime snacking during perimenopause bad? Jessica explains the research and then offers a balanced approach to assessing what is right for you.
Ask Jessica is an advice column for women in midlife. We cover all things related to midlife from changing bodies to career transitions to parenting teens to sandwich generation challenges to shifts in marital or life partnerships and everything in between. My hope is that in sharing these questions and answers I can women as we face the midlife journey together. Got a question or challenge you would like me to address? Fill out this form to submit your issue! Want to see the answers to other questions, check out our archive here.
Is Nighttime Snacking During Perimenopause Bad?
HEY JESSICA: I have a ritual that I love, but I am wondering if it is messing with me now that I am in perimenopause. Each night, after everything is done and I am finally on my way up to bed, I have a handful of either jelly beans or chocolate. It’s not a huge amount, but it definitely means that I am (1) eating sugar and (2) eating before bed, which I’ve heard can be a problem. Is nighttime snacking during perimenopause bad? Could it be messing up my sleep? Is this a habit I need to break? Or, another way to put it, does it really matter what time I stop eating at night? ~Don’t Take My Chocolate!
DEAR DON’T TAKE MY CHOCOLATE:
I am going to do my best to answer your question, but I’ve gotta be honest, there is A LOT of conflicting information out there on this one, so bear with me… Let’s start with what is pretty clear: ideally, any full meal that you are going to eat should be eaten two hours or more before bedtime. This is for a few reasons: (1) research shows that eating a full meal less than an hour before bed can make it harder to fall asleep; (2) research also shows that eating less than two hours before bed can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night; and (3) eating too close to bedtime has been shown to increase the risk of experiencing heartburn.
In addition, there are certain foods that have been shown to mess with sleep when eaten too close to bedtime. They include foods with caffeine (which, sadly, includes chocolate), alcohol, and foods high in fat, spiciness, or acidity (because they can trigger acid reflux/heartburn).
On the other hand, though, having certain small snacks close to bedtime has been shown to help with certain issues. If you struggle with blood sugar levels, your doctor may recommend a small carb-heavy snack before bed (definitely talk to your doctor first if you have blood sugar issues!). If falling asleep is tricky for you, then research shows that a snack that contains hormones that helps with sleep such as tryptophan, melatonin, or serotonin, may be helpful (e.g., nuts, milk). And third, if you find that you are hungry (and actually hungry, not just bored or tired), then having a small snack before bed may help you to fall asleep rather than focusing on your hunger cues.
So, that’s what the experts say. Now, here is what I am going to say when it comes the question of whether nighttime snacking during perimenopause is bad… Are you noticing problems with your sleep or experiencing indigestion? If not, I wouldn’t worry about having a small treat right before bed. It likely isn’t the thing that is going to make or break any other health or wellness goals you have, and there is a lot of value in having moments in your day that bring you joy! If you are noticing issues with your sleep or acid reflux, then testing some things out might be worthwhile.
First, I’d pay attention to whether the issue you are trying to remedy is impacted by your choice of jelly beans or chocolate chips. If, for instance, you notice that when you eat the chocolate, you have more trouble with sleep, but that that doesn’t happen when you have jelly beans, then perhaps that small amount of caffeine is impacting you and would be worth avoiding. If you notice that you are impacted by both jelly beans and chocolate chips, then you’ll need to decide which is more important to you (although, if you are experiencing bad indigestion on a nightly basis, I would both recommend talking to your doctor and would argue that the treat is doing more damage to your esophagus than is worthwhile).
If you do end up cutting it out but are really missing the ritual, then I’d ask yourself what is it about the ritual that means so much to you? Is it doing something nice for yourself after the entire day is done? I know a lot of women who see a treat that is just for them at the end of the day to be their one moment that they get to themselves. That has a lot of value! So, if this resonates, then I would consider either replacing the sweet treat with some other self-care ritual that is meaningful to you or finding another time in the day when you could enjoy the sweet treat as quiet “me time.”
In the end, I think it comes down to this: food serves many purposes in our lives. It nourishes us, it gives us energy, but it also provides pleasure, joy, and connection with others. So, if the good outweighs the bad and really isn’t causing any physical damage, then I promise, I won’t be coming for your late-night chocolate.