Everyday habits that many consider harmless, such as eating late dinners or sleep more to catch up on sleep on the weekends, may be significantly disrupting rest. This is according to the doctor and expert in microbiota and women’s health Sara Marín, who explains how these routines impact the circadian rhythm, the biological clock that regulates sleep and other functions of the body.
As explained in the podcast Your friends hormonesone of the most common mistakes is delaying dinner too much. “Insulin and melatonin are enemies,” points out. While the second hormone prepares the body to sleep, the first is activated after eating food to manage glucose.
When both coincide, the body receives contradictory signals. “If you eat dinner late, the body understands that it has to digest, not that it’s time to sleep,” he summarizes. For this reason, Marín recommends bringing forward the last meal of the day and ideally placing it between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Another of the habits that most harms the biological clock is changing the time you wake up during the weekend. “If you get up every day at eight and on Saturday or Sunday you get up at one in the afternoon, It takes up to three days for your body to regain its circadian rhythm.“warns the expert.
One of the most widespread beliefs is that the hours of sleep lost during the week can be recovered by sleeping more on the weekend. However, Marín categorically denies this. ““We think we’re going to repair it, but no matter how much you sleep, you’re not going to get those hours back.”he explains. On the contrary, these changes only contribute to further disrupting the circadian rhythm.
