Every summer the same story: you eat later, you go to bed later, and in the morning you get up as if you had not slept at all. Then comes the conclusion everyone repeats - the hour of dinner is to blame. A nutritionist and biologist says there is truth in that, but not the truth we think.

Paula Hernandez, a specialist in digestive and hormonal health, frames the problem precisely: there is no magic hour after which the body stops working properly. What actually hurts is the quantity and heaviness of the meal, not the number on the clock. „If we have a very large or heavy meal late, especially close to bedtime, digestion is slower, reflux or heaviness appears, sleep quality worsens and the next day we wake up tired,” she says.

So you do not sleep badly because you ate at eleven. You sleep badly because at eleven you ate so much that your body spends the whole night working instead of resting. The difference is fundamental, because the first thing you cannot always change, and the second you can.

What she says about weight is more interesting still: „Eating late, in itself, does not make you gain weight.” What decides is the energy balance over time - how much you eat, how much you burn, and the quality of your diet. Weight does not look at the clock.

There is a biological layer nonetheless. The body follows circadian rhythms, so there are moments when we digest food better and moments when glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity or digestive motility decline - late afternoon and evening, for instance, when melatonin secretion rises to prepare us for sleep. The body really does change through the day. That is just not a licence to blame one meal for everything.

The nutritionist insists that fatigue has many layers: „We cannot isolate the hour of eating alone. Many people who eat late also sleep less, have long working days, more stress or very large dinners.” That is the sentence most missing from the diet advice circulating online - there is always one culprit there, never five.

The practical part is unexpectedly simple. Do not arrive at your main meal ravenous - a few hours earlier eat something with protein and fibre so you do not overeat later. Balance the meal: protein, vegetables and a reasonable amount of carbohydrates. Leave at least two to three hours between the last substantial meal and bed. If lunch was late and large, make dinner lighter.

The final piece of advice is the least scientific and the most needed: no guilt. „Not everyone can eat at two in the afternoon or have dinner at eight, and a diet has to fit real life,” Hernandez says. That is the whole point - the quality of your diet, rest, stress and movement do far more for your energy than the exact hour of dinner.