A plate of pasta before you, a lover, and a 9 p.m. sunset. What feels more romantic than a late summer-evening meal al fresco? Well, it’s certainly not the 3 a.m. indigestion that follows.
Turns out late dinners are no longer du jour. A recent study by online restaurant-reservation platform OpenTable reported a significant uptick in 6 p.m. bookings—in London, it’s up 11%. Dining as early as 5 p.m. is also up 10%. Another 2024 study showed it was Gen Z who was leading these twilight dinner times. Hospitality-tech service Zonal also found that the average dining time is 6:12 p.m., driven by younger consumers, and data gleaned from Yelp in 2024 likewise reflected younger generations across the US becoming early-bird diners.
While reasons for these earlier dinner times span everything from work schedules to travel issues and packed social schedules, it makes sense from a wellness perspective too. “Eating out is becoming a way to socialize without compromising other goals,” Linda Haden, insights specialist at hospitality analysts Lumina Intelligence, recently told The Times. “We’re seeing more smoothies and fewer cocktails on dinner tables.” Gen Z is already reportedly drinking less and embracing sobriety, so early dinners are also going soft. When I ask my Vogue colleagues for their optimum supper times, one editor tells me her dream dinner date is 5:30 p.m.: “My sleep score and resting heart rate are always so much more optimal when I either eat supper super early or skip it,” she adds. Others said an early dinner gets them home in time to unwind, do their skin-care routines, and be up early for a morning workout class before the office. Inadvertently or not, Pilates based or otherwise, this recent study highlights a trend toward longer fasting windows, similar to the 12:12 method.
According to Joseph Antoun, MD, PhD, there’s a clear trend among Gen Z toward earlier dining and shorter eating windows that’s being driven by two factors: health literacy and lifestyle shifts.
“This is the first generation to grow up with circadian biology, gut health, and metabolic wellness in their social feeds,” says Dr. Antoun. “They know that late-night eating can disrupt digestion, spike blood sugar, impair sleep, and throw off key hormones that influence energy, mood, sleep, skin, and reproductive health, all of which is rising in importance for Gen Z.” The CEO of nutri-tech company L-Nutra also notes that remote and hybrid work post-pandemic has also moved this generation’s schedules forward, making it easier to eat during the body’s natural metabolic peak. “In many ways, they’re treating the clock as part of their nutrition plan,” Dr. Antoun says.
Plenty of studies highlight both the benefits of intermittent fasting—because that is what this is, shortening your eating window—and its drawbacks for various age groups. Eating earlier forms the basis of the Longevity Diet, Dr. Antoun notes, a clinically backed way of eating based on decades of research by biologist Valter Longo analyzing the eating and lifestyle habits of the world’s healthiest, longest-living populations. The emphasis is on plant-based foods, healthy fats, low sugar, and moderate protein intake, with a focus on consumption in the earlier part of the day.
There’s no disputing that protein is in fashion too; cottage cheese in all of its forms and recipe hacks are all over the TikTok FYP, and everything on the supermarket shelf has been protein-ified. And while there’s no one-size-fits-all rule for your protein consumption, timing can be just as important as how much you’re consuming. So is eating your steak frites at 5:30 p.m. going to affect your protein goals? For these Gen Z dusk diners, maybe.
“During our first two decades of human life, higher protein supports growth and development,” explains Dr. Antoun. “But around age 18, our biology shifts. Excessive protein, especially from animal sources, can overstimulate nutrient-sensing pathways like mTOR and IGF-1, which accelerate aging.” Between ages 18 and 65, experts generally recommend keeping protein to ~0.8 to 1.1 g per kilogram of body weight per day, leaning toward plant-based sources, Dr. Antoun says. Convenient, clinically formulated options, like protein powders and bars, “can help meet daily needs while supporting muscle health and longevity goals without overshooting the body’s optimal protein range.”
Many in the Gen Z generation are currently in the “slow the aging” window, as Dr. Antoun calls it, where lifestyle choices and health habits will impact their aging and vitality. It’s now that these earlier dinners—preferably balanced, plant forward, and protein rich—can “help meet their needs for muscle maintenance and recovery while keeping those aging pathways in check,” he says. “Combined with the circadian benefits of eating earlier, it’s a simple but powerful longevity habit.”
So what is the sweet spot for dinner time? Dr. Antoun puts it between 5:30 and 7 p.m. and ideally about three to four hours before sleep. “That window gives your body time to fully digest before overnight cellular repair kicks in,” he says. Breakfast—when you break fast—ideally happens within the first one to two hours of waking “to set your circadian clock and stabilize energy,” while lunch should be taken in the middle of the day, “when calorie utilization and metabolic efficiency are at their peak.”
“Think of it as front-loading your nutrition when your body’s systems are most ready to use it,” Dr. Antoun adds, “and letting nighttime be for rest, not digestion.”
More than moving further away from our Euro summer dreams and the practices of late-night diners in Italy or Spain, earlier dining signals a bigger cultural shift, “from eating as entertainment to eating as part of a daily longevity practice,” affirms Dr. Antoun. When you eat can be just as impactful as what you eat. “By syncing meals with the body’s circadian rhythm, you’re giving your cells the conditions they need to repair and rejuvenate for the long-term,” he says.
Timing your meals right is a simple, low-cost, accessible way, then, to slow biological aging. Eat earlier, eat plant rich, and eat protein forward for a strategy for living past 100. That’s already working for Gen Z—who are drinking and smoking less and engaging more in exercise—and Gen Alpha, who are predicted to live longer than previous generations.
“If these habits take root, we may see something extraordinary in Gen Z—a generation where our health span, the years we live in good health, finally starts to match our lifespan,” concludes Dr. Antoun. Table for two for 5 p.m., please.
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