Myth 4: Fasting Disrupts Sleep
You may assume going to bed hungry from fasting all day will inevitably disrupt your sleep. However, studies indicate intermittent fasting does not impair sleep quality or duration as long as eating is confined to earlier parts of the day. clinical trials demonstrate intermittent fasting with an 8 hour eating window followed by 16 hours of fasting does not decrease total sleep time, sleep efficiency, or time spent in the different sleep stages. Subjective sleepiness also remains unaffected.
By front-loading food intake earlier in the day, you can avoid sleep disruptions. One study found 50% of daily calories should be consumed by midday to prevent negative impacts on sleep from nighttime hunger when fasting.
As long as you time your meals appropriately for your schedule, intermittent fasting poses no problems for sleep quality according to science. Your body adapts to burning fat overnight, allowing sleep to proceed undisrupted.
