# Sleeping digestive metabolism

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-digestive-metabolism/111487>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 30, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-digestive-metabolism/111487 "2002-05-30T03:07:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Barking\_Spider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Barking\_Spider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Spider)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleeping-digestive-metabolism/111487/1 "2002-05-30T03:07:14Z")

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Many diets recommend that a dieter not eat for 3-4 hours before going to sleep. Supposedly, this is because the metabolism slows down while a person is resting, and the food will have a greater chance of turning to fat.  
What are the reasons why eating before bed is not recommended? Why should it matter if a person consumes 800 calories at 4:00 PM, or 9:00 PM? They are still taking in the same amount of calories, and they are still dropping their metabolism by going to sleep.

Its obvious that a persons basal metabolism will drop when they are sleeping, but what about a persons digestive metabolism. Will a sleeping person digest food more slowly than an awake, active person? Will food tend to linger in the digestive tract longer in a sleeping person?