(9)A report on sleep and nutrition released this month found that people who consistently went to bed earlier than 11 p.m. took in fewer calories and ate more healthy food. In contrast, “night owls” who go to bed between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. tend to consume more coffee, alcohol, refined sugars and processed meats than early risers.

This report corresponds with the existing scientific literature on bedtime and wellness. The relationship between geeing more sleep and making better food choices is well-documented. A study published last year in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who sleep more tend to eat less unhealthy food than their peers who don’t get much rest. (10)And a 2015 study from the University of California, Berkeley, found that teens who go to bed late are more likely to gain weight over a five-year period.

As a group, “night owls” types tend to eat less healthy food and take in more calories overall than early risers. The later one goes to bed, the more calories one records the next day. As yet a challenge to explain the cause-and-effect relationship between sleep and nutrition, there may be a third factor that impacts both of them. Or the relationship could be reversed, that is, people who eat less fall asleep earlier. (11)Still, if late sleepers want to lose a few pounds, they can go to bed earlier than they usually do, thereby, reducing their chance of taking snacks before bedtime.