The Best Time of Day to Eat Dinner, According to Dietitians

After a long day of work and errands, planning dinner can be a drag. This is especially true if you’re a busy bee, or your schedule is constantly changing. As a result, you might find yourself eating dinner at a different time each day—but does it actually matter? Ahead, dietitians explain the best time to eat dinner, and whether it’s possible to eat the meal too late (or early).

The Best Time to Eat Dinner

“In general, the ideal time to eat dinner is between 5 to 7 p.m.”, says Marissa (Meshulam) Karp, MS, RD, CDN. If that doesn’t work for your schedule, Karp notes that you should aim to eat dinner about three hours before heading to bed. This will “allow for proper digestion and decrease your risk of reflux,” explains Elizabeth Brown, MS, RDN, CPT.

However, it’s worth noting that the optimal time also depends on the size and composition of your meal, notes Brown. For example, “a very high fat meal such as a double burger and large fries can take six hours or longer to digest,” she explains. This can increase stomach acid, leading to pressure on the stomach and esophagus, potentially causing reflux and disrupting your ability to sleep.

Can You Eat Dinner Too Early or Too Late?

When you consider the effect food has on sleep, it’s certainly possible to eat dinner too early or too late. If you have an early dinner—around 3 p.m., for instance—you might struggle with falling asleep because you’re so hungry, shares Karp. In this case, you’ll want to eat a light snack, preferably one that contains a balanced mix of carbohydrates, protein, and some fat. The carbohydrates are especially important here, as they’ll “stimulate the release of serotonin, which is the precursor to melatonin,” says Brown.

In contrast, if you wait too long to eat dinner, you’ll also experience sleep troubles. That’s because the parts of the body that normally digest food take a break during sleep, explains Karp. “But if we’re eating close to bedtime, we don’t give our bodies that time to properly digest,” she says. In turn, the body attempts to sleep and digest food at the same time, making it difficult to snooze comfortably.

But what if you tend to work until late at night? In this case, try eating consistently earlier on in the day, suggests Karp. Otherwise, you’ll be starving by dinnertime, making it tempting to eat too much or make less nutritious choices at dinner. To prevent this, “focus on a filling meal with protein, fat, and fiber earlier in the day,” says Karp. You can also chow down on satiating midday snacks, like apples with peanut butter, to hold you over until dinner.

Should You Eat Dinner at the Same Time Every Day?

The body does well with routine, so having a typical window for dinner will benefit your circadian rhythm (i.e., internal body clock), notes Karp. In fact, food is one of the top environmental cues—or zeitgebers—that synchronize the body’s clock, according to the journal Frontiers in Nutrition. (The main zeitgeber is light, in case you’re wondering.) This is crucial for overall health, as misaligning your internal clock can disrupt metabolic processes, increasing the risk of metabolic disorders like diabetes and heart disease.

If you’re having a hard time eating dinner on a regular schedule, there are some things you can do to make it easier. Start by incorporating meal prep into your routine, which will ensure you have ready-made food on hand each night. It will also eliminate decision-making during dinnertime, so you won’t have to think about gathering ingredients and cooking food.