Unless we’re working out like a superhero, we’re likely to feel the passage of time as the body softens. Change in body composition is one of the most obvious markers of ageing, however hard we work to age well. On average, we gain a pound and a half (700g) each year during our 40s and 50s. In the USA, three-quarters of women are overweight or obese by the time they hit 60. In the UK, we’re not far behind, with over two-thirds of women overweight or obese between the ages of 55 and 64.
The role of oestrogen
The explanation for a lot of this can be found in hormonal changes as we pass through midlife. Oestrogen helps transport glucose to muscles where it is used more effectively than if it’s allowed to sit around in our bloodstream. When levels decline so too does this effective use of energy. In addition, as we age, fat stores redistribute themselves. Like many women, I’ve seen my fat stores – which happily sat on my hips until my 40s – take up residence in my middle, post-menopause. Pre-menopause, oestrogen helps take fat to our bums, hips and thighs. It takes precedence over other sex hormones, androgens, which promote the accumulation of abdominal fat. But as oestrogen declines, androgens get priority – resulting in fat that sits in our middles.
The form of oestrogen that we lose during menopause, estradiol, is the one that helps regulate metabolism and weight. There are receptors for estradiol in the hypothalamus region of the brain, which also controls appetite. The activity of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, seems to be reduced in the hypothalamus when oestrogen is present. Meaning that when oestrogen declines, our hunger cues are disrupted, and it’s easier for us to overeat.
Circadian rhythms and weight
We disrupt our metabolism further when we don’t eat, or move, in harmony with our circadian rhythms. These are our internal clocks, which regulate a whole range of bodily processes from digestion to sleep, hormone activity and insulin sensitivity. Annabel wrote last year about how these rhythms dictate how we digest protein and the effectiveness of movement. Now new research has revealed more information about how eating late at night runs counter to our body’s rhythms, leaving us vulnerable to increased weight gain.
A small study followed 16 overweight people, putting them on a carefully calibrated nutritional regime. For six days they ate early, then after a period of downtime, they followed exactly the same regime, but ate late in the day. This later eating pattern was found to increase hunger, but decrease energy expenditure. To add fuel to the weight gain fire, as it were, eating late altered hormonal and biochemical pathways related to fat metabolism and storage.
An early dinner
We’ve found that as the years go by, we’re more drawn to eating earlier in the evening when we can, allowing ourselves a good three hours to digest. Eating late in the evening impacts sleep as well as digestion, with two hormones battling for supremacy. The insulin needed for glucose management, and the melatonin needed to support sleep, run on the same pathways. When we eat late, insulin takes precedence and melatonin has to wait its turn. I was given a shiny new Oura ring for my birthday which tracks sleep in detail. I can see that I don’t get as much deep sleep (vital for cognitive function as we age) when I’ve had a late dinner.
What about you? Do you prefer an early dinner or are you a night owl eater? Let us know in the comments.
HALLOWEEN RECIPES
The somewhat bogus (I always think) festival of Halloween will soon be upon us, and the shops are filing up with pumpkins. Buy one, rather than a tub of ‘trick or treat’ sweets and make one of these recipes from the archive. Pumpkin or butternut squash can be used interchangeable in all of them.
Pumpkin and pomegranate hummus
Susan
Photo: Olivia Spink on Unsplash
Thank you, Susan, for this affirmation of why my (increased) belly is tough to shift at age 67. Will definitely try the eating earlier … but need to get out of the habit of thinking we’re working so still plan meals for after 7pm!!
Love the sound of the Mac & Cheese and have those ingredients in my fridge … guess what’s going to be for an EARLY evening meal tonight.
Just love your articles – thank you.
Dawn x
Thanks so much for your kind words, Dawn, much appreciated! It’s so tricky because hormonal changes mean we’re more likely to carry weight around our middles after menopause, but that truncal weight is bad for our health. It’s a design fault! Hope you enjoyed your early evening meal x
Thank you. Excellent article as usual (the younger generation are so lucky to have people like yourselves who share so much information now with them. Twenty years ago it was not so. I always look forward to seeing your emails.
My experience as an older woman (73) is the older my husband and I have got we need less food (lack of doing) and we have to start to eat our evening meal at the latest by 6.45pm.
If we eat a main meal in the middle of the day we usually manage to not eat anything later on save for a round of toast maybe! But not always.
I have always been mindful of the fact that as we like to drink a glass of wine with our food (2 smallish glasses each!) which I consider as empty calories – I am always conscious of our food intake.
Eating out we seldom have a starter before a main course but I might have 2 starters instead. It does depend on where we are eating though.
Thanks so much Angela. Such a good idea to eat earlier and keep the evening meal light. I’m a big fan of a two-starter dinner but my husband finds it annoying for some reason! I often think the starters are the most interesting thing on the menu too!
Susan
Not only do I feel better and sleep better when I eat an early dinner say around 5:30 pm, I also try to take a walk immediately following dinner.
That’s a win win! The perfect way to manage glucose levels, get more movement into the day and hopefully sleep better too. Such a good idea!
We did indeed … how lovely of you to take the time to respond. Thank you for all your brilliant info, recipes and links.
Love and blessings, Dawn.
I find this really interesting but have to ask how people in Mediterranean countries who traditionally eat very late in the evening go on? Has this been studied at all?
Hi Heather, that’s a really good question! I think that it comes back to the difference between very traditional agrarian societies around the Mediterranean (and other Blue Zones) and modern urban southern European lifestyles. The properly traditional societies will have their main meal in the middle of the day, eating really late is an more modern construct. The Blue Zones website states, ‘People in the blue zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening and then they don’t eat any more the rest of the day.’ Hope that helps! Susan
Great article! However, it’s very hard for me as my working hours are from 4 PM to 10 PM and I usually don’t eat much before working. I’m an English tutor, so I sit a lot. If I eat before tutoring, I can’t quite focus and I tend to rush through my meals. So, the only time I can relax and eat is after work – which is after 10 PM … sigh … that’s one of the huge reasons why I have put on 6 kgs since 2020! Consequently, because I eat so late, I would only go to sleep at 2 AM. I would only arrive home at 11 PM, have my dinner and then go to bed at 2 AM earliest. I’d wake up at about 9 to 10 AM, but sometimes I need to wake up at 7 to 8 AM …
I don’t really know what to do and I wish there’s something I can do, taking into consideration my working hours.
I just turned 54 in December 2022, and my menopause started in 2015. Before my menopause, my weight was between 48 to 50 kg. From 2015 to 2016, my weight shot up to 56 kg. Then, in 2017, I started doing yoga and cutting down on carbs – and my weight went down to 52 kg. But COVID happened, and my weight shot up to 64 kg! All this while, my sleeping and eating patterns have been the same.
I’m trying to do something different for 2023, but I don’t know how to start!
Hi Alice thanks so much for getting in touch. Irregular hours and shift work make keeping our circadian rhythms on track very difficult. Don’t stay up till 2am to digest, that will knock your body clock out even further. What would it take for you to be able to relax and eat before you tutor? Is there something you can shift (either in terms of schedule or mindset) to allow that to happen? And are you able to work some movement into your working hours, even if it’s just standing up while your students complete an exercise or a quick stretch between classes? Best, Susan