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Hannah Wagner is a typical night owl.
The owner of Fortitude Valley wine bar Dark Red works late most nights of the week. Getting to sleep before midnight is a rarity, as is waking up before 9.30am.
Like many night owls, Wagner skips breakfast, and finds it difficult to eat big meals before an active shift.
“I think a lot of hospitality workers would agree … you don’t want to have like a big katsu curry and then try to work six hours on your feet. It’s just the worst.”
Instead, she picks. A tin of tuna crouched behind the bar between pouring glasses of chilled red. A few slices of smoked salmon on a quick run to the supermarket to restock the bar with mint.
Conscious of her unconventional dinner times and the way the night owl lifestyle can impact weight and energy, Wagner sticks to basic meals after work.
“I don’t touch rice or pasta late at night … that’s just a tried and tested thing that I’m super aware of.
“Generally, I’m pretty good at making sure the carb sources at midnight are just vegetables and that kind of thing.”
A recent study by Griffith University found night owls tend to eat the same amount of calories as early birds but consume less protein in the morning and foods higher in fats, carbohydrates and sugars late at night.
Combined with irregular sleep patterns and eating habits, they are at greater risk of poor metabolic health and tended to have a higher body fat percentage, and higher blood-sugar levels and lipids.
“Chronotypes influence our preferences for food intake, our behaviours and our metabolism,” study lead Professor Rozanne Kruger from Griffith’s School of Allied Health, Sport and Social Work says.
Researchers analysed data from 287 healthy European and New Zealand women aged between 18 and 45 years, and assessed whether they were morning chronotypes (early birds) or evening chronotypes (night owls).
“This was an attempt to get a more intensive look at what people are eating, when they are eating [and] their metabolic profile,” Kruger says.
They found early birds and night owls consumed similar amounts of food or energy across the day, but were affected by the windows during which they ate.
Evening types consumed less food between 3am and 9:59am, but more food between 8pm and 2:59am. The opposite was true for early risers.
After 8pm, night owls were more likely to reach for foods that were high in energy, carbohydrates and fats.
“It does matter what you eat, but it definitely matters when you eat it,” Kruger says.
“If we talk about timing of meals, it’s good to have the three meals across the day, but evening types usually, or often, might put their dinner back later than a morning type would.
“So six or 7pm is a good time [to eat dinner] but evening types might push it back to eight or 9pm.”
Consuming food at night when we are supposed to be fasting and sleeping, Kruger explains, means bodies store more food rather than use it, which may increase susceptibility to obesity and cause worse health outcomes.
“Energy in equals energy out and once you have the energy in, you either have to use it or store it.
“Targeting meal timing, particularly reducing late-night eating, could be an important strategy for improving health amongst people with an evening chronotype.”
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