NEW YORK (Dispatches) -- In a recent study, researchers have demonstrated that meal timing may affect mental health, including levels of depression- and anxiety-related mood.
Scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital designed a study that simulated night work and then tested the effects of daytime and nighttime eating versus daytime eating only.
During the study , among participants in the daytime and nighttime eating group, depression-like mood levels increased by 26 percent and anxiety-like mood levels by 16 percent. Participants in the daytime-only eating group did not experience this increase, suggesting that meal timing may influence mood vulnerability.
The researchers found that meal timing significantly affected the participants’ mood levels. During the simulated night shift (day 4), those in the Daytime and Nighttime Meal Control Group had increased depression-like mood levels and anxiety-like mood levels, compared to baseline (day 1). In contrast, there were no changes in mood in the Daytime Meal Intervention Group during the simulated night shift. Participants with a greater degree of circadian misalignment experienced more depression- and anxiety-like mood.