When it comes to weight loss, paying attention to your internal clock could be as important as counting steps or setting the stopwatch on your fitness tracker.
Your circadian rhythm, the 24-hour clock that governs bodily rhythms — ranging from sleep-wake cycles and body temperature to hormones and digestion — also appears to have an impact on your weight.
改变睡眠，餐和锻炼的时间可能会对昼夜节律造成破坏。相比之下，坚持特定的时间表和时间安排whenyou consume most of your calories — can aid in weight loss.
“We can optimize our performance by trying to achieve a match between our body clocks and time of day that we perform various tasks,” explains Robert L. Matchock, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Pennsylvania State University.
BIG BREAKFAST, SMALL DINNER
Research发表在《肥胖》杂志上发表的发现，您最大的一餐的时机与规模上的数字有关。在早餐时消耗700卡路里的研究参与者，午餐500卡路里的热量和200周的晚餐时卡路里的卡路里减轻了12周的体重，腰围减少了，比那些在早餐时吃200卡路里的热量，午餐时500卡路里和700卡路里的腰围减少了。。研究人员指出，吃更大的早餐还有助于减少禁食葡萄糖，胰岛素和胰岛素抵抗，这可能导致2型糖尿病风险降低。
A 2017studyreported similar findings, noting that those who ate a heavier meal at lunch lost 25% more weight than those who ate a heavier dinner — despite similar nutrient and caloric intakes.
Kristen Knutson, PhD, associate professor of neurology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, admits that the link between circadian rhythm and weight gain is not fully understood but posits, “This association may be related to eating at the ‘wrong’ time, that is, when your body is not expecting you to eat. It could also be that eating in the evening impairs sleep, which has been associated with impairments in metabolism.”
时间和规律性事项
Shifts in the circadian system may also impact glucose tolerance, impairing your ability to lower blood sugar after an evening meal and causing your body to burn just half of the calories two hours after an evening meal that it does after an identical earlier meal.
In a newstudy, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers examined data from 110 adults and found that eating late in the day increased the risk of metabolic syndrome, noting that those with the highest BMI and body fat percentages consumed most of their calories late at night. Based on their findings, researchers suggested that eating your last meal several hours before bed gives your body time to digest, decreasing the risk of storing fat.
“Sleeping and eating at regular times each day helps to keep circadian rhythms synchronized,” Knutson says. “Avoid eating in the evening and at night, and even give yourself a time window for eating food — for example, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.”
虽然尊重您的昼夜节律很重要，但这并不是暴饮暴食的许可。无论您何时进食，减肥仍然需要计数卡路里，但在某些时间消耗它们可能会有所帮助。
“Jumping all around the clock from one day to the next (or from weekdays to weekends) is hard on the body’s circadian rhythms,” says Knutson. “Keeping a regular schedule of sleep, meals and exercise will help to optimize health.”
