Studies have shown that eating less for dinner leads to better sleep. A proper dinner should leave you 80% full, stopping when you no longer feel hungry. Dinner is best scheduled around 6 PM and should not be later than 9 PM. It's advisable not to eat any solid food after 9 PM. Furthermore, do not go to bed within four hours after dinner to allow the food to be fully digested.
A note on eating dried shrimp for dinner:
Everyone knows that taking calcium supplements before bed is effective, such as drinking a glass of milk, which promotes sleep and replenishes calcium. It's also known that dried shrimp is very rich in calcium. Therefore, some people believe that eating dried shrimp before bed for calcium supplementation is more effective than milk. In fact, this view is completely wrong. Not only does it fail to achieve the goal of calcium supplementation, but it also increases the risk of developing urinary tract stones.
Dried shrimp is nutritious, with a high calcium content of 991 mg/100g (the recommended daily calcium intake for adults is 800 mg), earning it the nickname "calcium warehouse." It is also known to stimulate the appetite and help resolve phlegm. However, it should be noted that precisely because of its high calcium content, it should not be eaten in the evening to avoid causing urinary tract stones. The main component of urinary stones is calcium, and while some of the calcium from food is absorbed by the intestinal wall, the excess is excreted through urine. The peak time for calcium excretion in the human body is generally 4-5 hours after a meal. If dinner contains too much calcium, or if the dinner is too late, or if one eats dried shrimp before bed, when the peak calcium excretion occurs, the person is already asleep. The urine will then be retained in the urinary tract and cannot be expelled in a timely manner. This causes the calcium concentration in the urine to continuously increase and deposit, easily forming urinary stones over time. Matsushita Hospital in Japan once surveyed 270 urinary stone patients, and 97 of them had dinner mostly after 9 PM, while 25 had the habit of going to bed right after a late-night snack.
Therefore, evening calcium supplementation should not be too late or excessive. When choosing calcium-rich foods, opt for those that are easily digested and absorbed. Drinking a glass of milk 1-2 hours before bed is an excellent choice.