It is eight o’clock in the afternoon. After a long day juggling work and family tasks, it’s finally time to plop down on the couch in front of the TV. And for many of us this means enjoying a therapeutic glass of wine and a snack too.
However, this is not the case for Sarah Shah, who is already lying in bed. She follows a self-described super-early bedtime ‘diet’: a strict routine that’s not so much about improving sleep as it is about losing weight.
The 50-year-old mother of three says that only by barricading herself in her bedroom at this early hour can she avoid the temptation of the dreaded afternoon snack, a habit that has caused her to pack on the pounds over the years. “My husband Nick’s security business means he is often away for weeks at a time,” says Sarah from Swindon, Wiltshire. ‘And my daughters Eloise, 19, and twins Molly and Ruby, 18, are usually busy after dinner, so I found myself alone, opening a bottle of wine and eating whatever was in sight.
‘I felt like I needed a gift, especially when I was feeling down. At first I tried to stop snacking through willpower alone. But the appeal of the kitchen cabinets proved too much.
“I slowly realized that the only way to stop eating at that time was to go to bed, much to my family’s amusement.” You could say Sarah is denying herself the best part of the day (the time when you can relax or catch up on your partner’s day), but she says the positives outweigh the negatives. She lost three kilos in eight months (from 16 to 13) and has kept it off. “I know people will feel this is very extreme,” she smiles. And maybe it is. All I know is that I feel better and it works for me.’
But is it a step too far or has Sarah, a middle-aged and menopause consultant, stumbled upon the simplest of diet tricks?
Study: According to research, the more a woman eats after 6 p.m., the worse her heart health is, with a greater risk of having higher blood pressure and body mass index. In the photo, May Simkin, 58 years old.
“Evening is the best time to snack, especially for women,” says Dr Daniel Glazer, a London-based clinical psychologist and co-founder of health technology platform UK Therapy Rooms. ‘The night offers the opportunity to finally relax. Activities like watching television allow our minds to decompress. However, we still have plenty of mental energy and snacks fill that space with distraction and solace.”
Treats like cookies, chips, and candy, Dr. Glazer explains, release dopamine and endorphins, feel-good brain chemicals, which is why afternoon snacks like these can be so addictive. So avoiding them in the first place makes sense.
According to research presented at an American Heart Association conference, the more a woman eats after 6 p.m., the worse her heart health, with greater risk of higher blood pressure and body mass index. And a 2022 study found that eating late at night can increase how hungry we are when we’re awake and decrease how quickly the body uses energy during waking hours.
Sarah had tried eating less sugar and more fruit, but without any noticeable weight loss; It wasn’t until she started going to bed at 8 p.m. that her pounds began to come off more quickly.
Of course, there are disadvantages. What about socialization? “People know me well enough to know that I’m a day person,” she says. And when her husband finally returns home after weeks away? “Well,” she says with a twinkle in her eye, “then I can stay up a little longer.”
As for the rules of the strict routine, Sarah eats at 5 in the afternoon with the family; If someone is late, she starts without them. “My family jokes that it’s so early it’s like tea time for little kids.” Everything is finished and the kitchen cleans at 6 p.m. At 7:30 p.m., she’s already heading upstairs, ready to relax with a bath or a book before turning off the lights.
New habit: Only when Sarah Shah, 50, started going to bed at 8 pm, the kilos began to fall more quickly.
Strict routine: After dinner, Jo Colley, 43, goes upstairs at 7pm and makes sure she is in bed by 7.30pm.
Don’t miss catching up with your family or keeping up with can’t-miss boxsets? “Not at all,” she says. “My daughters do their things at night, my husband is away often, so it works very well.”
In Sarah’s case, her weight began to increase after having children and after going through early menopause at the age of 36. Now, every night, when she turns off the light, she remembers her goal.
On the wall is a photograph of her and her husband Nick, 55, taken five years ago when he was awarded an OBE for his services to policing. And while the framed photograph is a source of pride, it also acts as a healthy reminder of Sarah’s weakness for afternoon plates of chips or plates of salty cheese slices.
‘I hated having my photos taken: I was a size 20 and weighed around 16 kilos. I felt terrible,’ Sarah reflects. ‘But the image reminds me of what late-night snacks can do to the body. And why I have no intention of ever letting myself feel that way again.
Jo Colley, 43, from east London, uses the same solution for afternoon snacks, but her evening routine starts even earlier. After serving dinner to her sons Reggie, nine, and Heath, eight, Jo heads upstairs at 7:00 p.m. and makes sure she’s in bed by 7:30 p.m. “Part of me The problem is that I work from home and my office is right next to the kitchen,” says Jo, who runs online children’s learning resources company My Little Learner.
“It’s hard enough during the day not to just get up and eat something, but even worse at night when I crave chips, salty cheese or anything salty.
‘We had dinner as a family between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. and I found myself eating leftovers or chips as soon as I started cleaning the kitchen. It was just a habit more than hunger. I had gained about five or six pounds; not much, but I felt like it was noticeable and I didn’t really like it.
‘Unlike ten years ago, when I could get rid of it simply by being a little careful, in recent years that just wasn’t happening. So now I put the kids to bed, kiss them goodnight, and then stay in my room and don’t go out. Mostly I read: My husband Alex can work until 9:30 pm, by which time I may already be asleep.
‘The most important thing is that I won’t come down again until 7 the next morning. It keeps me away from food and I lost those extra pounds in six weeks. Do I feel like I’m missing something or sleeping my life away? Not really, and in winter the appeal of the electric blanket certainly helps. And, of course, so is avoiding extra weight.
Does it mean she and Alex, 41, are losing time together because she’s asleep?
Jo says no, as they both work from home (Alex runs a luxury brand agency), so they spend a lot of time together during the day.
But is it possible to free yourself from afternoon snacking without having to hibernate?
Robbie Puddick, registered nutritionist at NHS-backed Second Nature, believes it’s about rethinking behaviour.
“Next time you’re watching TV and you’re craving chocolate, pause the show, go into the kitchen and make some herbal tea,” she says. “You can also eliminate the signal completely by doing something other than watching TV, like calling a friend or planning your weekly meals.”
But Jo maintains that her method results in better sleep and weight loss: “I used to wake up during the night and realized that eating before going to sleep could cause my blood sugar to go up and go down to.
‘So now I avoid all that. What’s more, now, when I go to bed, I have time to read, something I’ve never done before.
“I stay relaxed, my sleep quality is much better, and I’m a size ten!”
May Simpkin, a 58-year-old nutritionist, began her early bedtime regimen to aid intermittent fasting, a weight loss method that works on the principle of eating only food in a small window of the day. This prolongs the period in which your
The body burns the calories consumed during the last meal, making it more likely to burn fat.
The mother-of-three, whose children are in their twenties, lives in Surrey with her retired husband Guy, 62, and attributes her slim size 10 to this discipline.
It may take fierce determination to stick to a routine of going to bed early every night, with the odd night off for a special occasion, but May says it’s a relatively easy way to maintain her slim figure.
‘I started intermittent fasting five or six years ago because I wanted to stay slim as I got older. I decided to eat twice a day: lunch around 1:00 pm and dinner at 6:30 pm, skipping breakfast completely. That way I can do a long fast. Sometimes I’m hungry and the only way to avoid temptation is to go to bed early. So after clearing out dinner, I announce that the kitchen is closed and head upstairs around 8 p.m.
“It is true that at first it was difficult. Especially since she left Guy downstairs eating snacks in front of the TV.
Surely that self-imposed separation wreaks havoc on a marriage? May maintains that it has its benefits. ‘I work from home and Guy is retired so we are together a lot. When I get into bed it’s me giving myself permission to say the day is over. Work done.
And I go to bed early enough to feel full after dinner, which, since I work as a nutritionist, will be something healthy but filling like stir-fried chicken.
‘But at 7:30 p.m. the dishwasher is on and I’m leaving! I think alone time is also very good for both of us.
May enjoys herbal tea and runs a relaxing bath before sinking into the sheets.
With tempting snacks out of sight and out of mind, she falls asleep long before her belly rumbles and sleeps her way to a lean figure.