We now appreciate that the same meal consumed at different times of day can produce very different levels of blood glucose due to the circadian-driven changes in glucose uptake and metabolism.

Research has suggested, however, that a mattress and bedding that can conduct heat away from the body, and so lower core body temperature, can reduce the time it takes to get to sleep and increase deep slow-wave sleep.

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There is a real problem for those individuals who are ‘natural long sleepers’, needing nine hours or more of sleep each night.

One final tip is that if you walk for 30–45 minutes after an evening meal, rather than before, this can assist in the control of blood glucose and hence weight loss.835,836

Sleep apps can be useful in providing a record of roughly when you went to sleep, when you got up, total sleep time and how many times you got up during the night, and for this most are reasonably accurate.

Cognitive abilities tend to rise and peak later in the day. On average they are delayed by about two hours, peaking in the mid-afternoon

In addition, digestive processes are reduced toward bedtime, so if the major meal of the day is prior to bed, this can lead to digestive health issues such as excessive stomach acid production and a greater risk of peptic ulcers.299 Stomach pain can then act to disrupt sleep. And to complete the circle, SCRD increases the risk of peptic ulcers.

So exercising regularly at a time that is best for your chronotype will help you burn fat and increase muscle mass. This will act to increase your metabolic rate.