Eating Late At Night May Affect Learning: Study Suggests

Late night snacking may seem harmless but your memory and learning may be suffering.


Eating at times normally intended for sleep causes a deficiency in processes controlled by the hippocampal portion of the brain.

In the study published in the journal eLife, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, conducted experiments on laboratory mice.

A group of mice were fed earlier than the time intended normally for dinner while those in the other group were fed late at night - right before sleeping time.
These mice were given a mild shock and the next day, they were placed in the same spot. Those who ate early felt scared, which
means they remembered the shock. The other group who ate late at night did not manifest fear response, showing how their memory was affected.

The researchers say that this is because the mice who ate when they should be sleeping had lesser levels of a protein called CREB
(cAMP response element-binding protein), which is the key for the body's internal molecular clock and the brain's capability to form memories.