Atlanta sees increase in 5pm dinner reservations
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More Atlanta locals — some who continue to work remotely — are making earlier dinner reservations, like 5pm early.
Why it matters: Experts say eating dinner early could benefit your metabolic health, Axios' Carly Mallenbaum reports.
By the numbers: 5pm dinner reservations are more popular now than they've been in the last five years, according to data Resy shared with Axios.
- Reservations made between 6pm and 8pm have dropped.
What they're saying: "Limit[ing] your calorie intake close to bedtime" — about three to four hours before bed — could help with blood sugar control and weight management, says Frank Scheer, Harvard Medical School professor and Medical Chronobiology Program director.
- "When we delay the food intake and keep everything else the same, that by itself leads to an increase in cravings, changes in appetite hormones and fewer calories burnt across the waking hours," said Scheer, who conducted research on mealtime and metabolic health.
- The reason is likely connected to the circadian clock, which reduces the energy we burn after evening meals, he says.
Zoom in: Ayman Kamel — owner of 5Church Midtown, 5Church Buckhead, AltaToro, and Virtue Rooftop — says 5pm reservations happen often at his restaurants, especially since the pandemic.
- Kamel told Axios his restaurants bring in cooks, hosts, servers, and bartenders earlier to serve the 5pm crowd.
- "We also believe when you start dinner service earlier, it takes a lot of pressure off the kitchen by allowing them to ease into peak hours later in the evening," Kamel says.
Meanwhile, it's not just dinners that are happening at 5pm — so are workouts.
- According to Future fitness app data from April to June, 5pm was the most popular time to start a workout among a sample of 20,000 users.
- That's a major shift from 2019, when the app's most popular workout start time was before 7am — possibly ahead of a work commute.
Zoom out: The shift to eating and exercising while the sun's still out appears to be part of a larger trend to prioritize work-life balance and sleep, rather than hustle culture.