In November, I flipped the script on my 16:8 intermittent fasting rules. Rather than skipping breakfast, I opted to skip dinner. I had hypothesized that skipping dinner would clear much of my digestive tract prior to bedtime, which in turn would help me to sleep better. One night during this experiment, I did sleep a near-term record seven hours straight. I had slept seven hours straight up to that point maybe a dozen times in the last quarter century, so that was remarkable. I had one other night that was six hours, and that was pretty nice, too.
However, skipping dinner did not result in consistent sleep improvement that would justify denying myself the enjoyment of dinner. Accordingly, I have reverted to skipping breakfast habitually and once again eating dinner. With that said, I do draw attention to my New Year’s Resolution:
Eat less for dinner. Eating less for dinner will 1) save money and 2) be good for my health. Eating less for dinner will guard against obesity and related health issues. Further, it will reduce digestive stress on my body when I am trying to sleep and thereby improve my sleep.
Here’s a quote from a recent article by Dan Buettner who has spent two decades studying the Blue Zones:
“Hara hachi bu” — the 2,500-year-old Confucian mantra that Okinawans say before meals — reminds people to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. People in the Blue Zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening, and they don’t eat any more the rest of the day.
Hara hachi bu seems like a good habit. A good way to implement hara hachi bu would be to slow down while eating. As to eating the last meal of the day late in the afternoon or early evening, that is close to what I was doing when I flipped my 16:8 script. It wasn’t culturally a good fit for me. I generally like to eat later than that. However, I am capable of cutting off consumption several hours before bed, so I’ll do that. Also, I’m generally going to push desserts to an earlier time of day rather than after dinner–that should help.
I recommend Dan Buettner’s article on CNBC make it, published 11.24.2023:
I talked to 263 of the world’s longest-living people—their 9 ‘non-negotiables’ for a long, happy life
With Love,
P. Gustav Mueller, author of The Present