At What Point In The Day Does The Body Burn The Most Calories?
Author: Nia Rouseberg
Time for reading: ~1
minutes
Last Updated:
August 08, 2022
It is important not only what we eat, but also when we eat to burn more calories ...
People have said that we are what we eat. And although there is some truth in the sentence, at least as far as our weight is concerned, it does not depend only on the food we eat. According to modern science, when we eat and when we go to bed is also important. However, one of the main problems is how to study the influence of the mentioned factors, namely - how to isolate the influence of bodily circadian rhythms on the rhythms of the "clock" (socially defined time)?
Scientists from three institutions - Harvard Medical School , Women's Hospital and Penn State University - have found a way to study the relevant processes and determine when the human body burns the most calories . To this end, the team conducted an unusual experiment on 10 volunteers, 5 men and 5 women, who for 37 days had to live in laboratory conditions, limited by any access to the environment, watches, telephones and the Internet. In addition, food intake was also strictly regulated, and participants were careful not to engage in activities that would further stimulate calorie burning.
By regulating sleep patterns, scientists have found that the amount of energy used to maintain basic functions such as breathing or brain activity is maintained by circadian rhythms - the internal hormonal cycle that informs us when to prepare for bed and sleep. when to wake up. According to the results published in Current Biology , the body temperature of the volunteers was highest during the biological afternoon (which means that they burned the most calories then ) and was lowest during the biological night. Scientists have also found that the body seems to prefer carbohydrates to fuel in the morning and fat in the evening.
The team says that bodies perform their functions optimally when diets and sleep are consistent . This explains why people with more non-standard work shifts tend to gain weight - the imbalance takes its toll. The researchers' future plans are to study how the body's appetite and reaction to food varies depending on the time of day, as well as how sleep affects these processes.
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