Late-night snack hack #2: Don't go to bed too late. Your body will eventually want another meal. 11PM brain is not a health nut.

(In this post I will talk about "11PM brain." We all have different schedules and energy cycles. Please adjust any specifics I mention here to your own situation.)

I'm a night owl. Though my job is pretty 9-5 (more on that later), I get a certain kind of "second wind" many nights, and will dig into a big idea or project (work-related/domestic/artistic) at a ridiculous hour and rev up when I really should be revving down.

On the one hand, I love this, I like owning personal time and not totally vegging out and being "useless after work." But the downside is that I lose track of time and energy, and before I know it, it can be many hours since the last time I ate, and I get totally hungry out of nowhere. Now in theory, this really shouldn't be a problem, we should eat every few hours, and if you're awake long enough, you do need more food eventually, right?

Err, kind of.

The problem with the 11PM meal for me is that: at that time of night, I never feel like all the healthy food that sounds good in the middle of the day. A big salad? A stir fry? It just sounds too hard to digest and prepare (Notice I say sounds hard, not really is hard, late-night brain is dumb :D ). A crunchy Gala apple? No. 11PM-brain wants mac and cheese. Or crackers. Or a quesadilla. 11PM brain is dumb and picky.

Now I'm not saying you shouldn't be awake at 11pm! I'm just saying you shouldn't be revving up at 11PM.

I can't pretend I've really conquered this one, or even totally understand it, but I've experienced it enough times for it to be more than a theory.

Some things I do to settle down:

• I at least tuck myself in early, even if I plan on staying awake for a bit. I have a laptop with wireless, so I can work/ watch movies in bed. If you don't have a laptop: a novel, or notepad and pen would work, too.
  
• I do hygiene stuff (wash face/brush teeth) early, even if I won't be sleeping for a bit. (People always advise teeth-brushing to prevent snacking, I know, but I'm doing it with a different perspective!)
• I'll write in my journal, just because it settles my brain down.

Basically if I'm within a couple hours of when I want to go to bed, or a few hours away from when I last ate, I try to be very mindful of putting my head in a place that won't get caught up in brand new worries/projects/ideas at a time of day when it really should be about tidying up and winding down.

This is something I really struggle with, as I'm a little OCD and very high-energy. I'd love to hear how you guys conquer this.