After two decades of treating heart disease, heart attacks, and clogged arteries, Dr. Sanjay Bhojraj said he began to see that what happens after the workday ends is really important to heart health.
Dr. Bhojraj, who’s both a board-certified interventional cardiologist and a certified functional medicine doctor, said he has noticed that there’s not much discussion about how our evening habits can affect our hearts.
Heart disease develops over time due to ongoing signals like blood pressure, inflammation, glucose control, and sleep quality. A lot of these signals are influenced by our routine evening behaviors, according to Dr. Bhojraj, founder of the Laguna Institute of Functional Medicine and a national educator for the Institute for Functional Medicine. This means that the choices we make at night can determine whether our bodies enter repair mode or remain in stress mode.
In an article for CNBC Make It, Dr. Bhojraj highlighted seven things he consistently avoids after 7 p.m. as a cardiologist.
1. Late-night eating
When your stomach begins to growl at night, it’s easy to grab something out of the refrigerator to eat. However, satisfying your hunger at night may not be good for your heart.
According to Dr. Bhojraj, the body’s ability to metabolize glucose and fats decreases in the evening. As a result, eating late leads to elevated blood sugar levels, poor processing of dietary fats, and increased inflammation. Late-night eating also competes with the body’s overnight repair processes, which are important for maintaining vascular health.
Research shows that eating earlier is better for the heart because the body can process food more effectively, resulting in healthier blood pressure and better glucose control.
2. Bright overhead lighting and harsh LEDs
After the sun sets, being in bright, blue-heavy light can prevent the release of melatonin, the hormone that helps us sleep, keeps our blood pressure in check, and supports antioxidant functions in our cardiovascular system.
Research has shown that exposure to bright lights at night increases the risk of coronary heart disease and interferes with the body’s normal nighttime blood pressure patterns.
Dr. Bhojraj recommends using warm light bulbs and eye-level lamps to mimic sunset lighting. The cardiologist wrote that he uses red lightbulbs in his bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for bed.
3. Stressful or emotionally charged television
Let’s face it. It’s hard not to stay up to finish watching the end of a play-off game, or talk back to political leaders in a news program, or sit on the edge of your seat during the season finale of your favorite show. But as exciting as nighttime television shows are, it’s wreaking havoc on our nervous system, according to Dr. Bhojraj.
Apparently, our nervous system can’t tell the difference between a reality television show and a stressful situation in our personal lives. Dr. Bhojraj explains that psychological stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, causing our hearts to race and our blood pressure to rise.
Research shows that both acute and chronic stress can lead to endothelial dysfunction, the earliest stage of cardiovascular disease. For those with a higher risk, intense emotional stress can sometimes lead to actual cardiac events.
“Personally? I love a good series as much as anyone,” Dr. Bhojraj wrote. “I just don’t watch it at night. I’ll save other people’s crazy drama for the weekend, when my nervous system can afford the hit. Revving your stress hormones right before sleep is like flooring the gas pedal as you pull into the garage.”
4. Intense exercise
Exercise is great for the heart, but late-night, intense workouts can keep cortisol levels high, making it harder for your body to switch from the “fight-or-flight” mode into the “rest-and-repair” mode. As a result, it’s difficult for you to fall asleep, your overnight heart rate increases, and your heart-rate variability, which measures the variation in time between heartbeats, decreases. A low heart-rate variability is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
“Yes, some movement is always better than no movement,” Dr. Bhojraj wrote. “But high-intensity training at 9 p.m., for example, often compromises recovery, which is where the real cardiovascular benefits actually happen. Your heart needs a runway to slow down, not one last sprint before midnight.”
5. Alcohol consumption
Some people feel more relaxed in the evening after drinking alcohol. But according to Dr. Bhojraj, it’s doing just the opposite to your body. For example, Dr. Bhojraj says that moderate drinking in the evening can
• Affect your sleep patterns
• Reduce REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, the final stage of sleep when most dreams occur, and the brain repairs, reorganizes, and restores itself.
• Interfere with melatonin production
• Elevate resting heart rate
• Reduce the normal overnight drop in blood pressure, a pattern strongly associated with increased cardiovascular risk.
“Poor sleep amplifies inflammation and worsens metabolic regulation, compounding long-term heart risk,” he wrote.
6. Emotionally charged conversations
Your heart will suffer serious consequences if you express your anger or experience emotional stress before bedtime. According to Dr. Bhojraj, acute stress spikes cortisol, lowers heart-rate variability, and can cause arrhythmias or cardiac events in some people.
“Evening arguments with the wife don’t just ruin the mood; they flood your system with stress hormones at the exact time your body should be powering down,” he wrote. “Some conversations matter. They just don’t all need to happen tonight.”
7. Unfiltered screen exposure
Phones, tablets, and TVs give off blue light, which can interfere with your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle. This can make it harder to fall asleep and feel rested. Independent of other factors, chronic sleep disturbances have been linked to hypertension, insulin resistance, inflammation, and heightened cardiovascular risk.
Before making any significant changes to your routine, Dr. Bhojraj recommends talking with your doctor first. As for Dr. Bhojraj, he says, “For me, after 7 p.m., my rule is simple: Reduce circadian disruption and sympathetic stress, and let your heart recover.”
This site offers information designed for educational purposes only. You should not rely on any information on this site as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or as a substitute for, professional counseling care, advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional.
