Many people treat the advice to not take food to bed like an old wives tale...

But recent research suggests that there's a lot of validity in claims that you shouldn't indulge in night time snacking. The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania conducted a study that turned up some pretty stark conclusions for people who eat in bed. "Compared to eating earlier in the day, prolonged delayed eating can increase weight, insulin and cholesterol levels, and negatively affect fat metabolism, and hormonal markers implicated in heart disease, diabetes and other health problems." Yikes. “Eating later can promote a negative profile of weight, energy, and hormone markers—such as higher glucose and insulin, which are implicated in diabetes, and cholesterol and triglycerides, which are linked with cardiovascular problems and other health conditions,” said Namni Goel, PhD. The researchers found that a series of other measures reflecting negative metabolic profiles increased in those who ate later in the day, including insulin, fasting glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. If that's not enough reason to simply wait until breakfast, we don't know what is.