It's 8 p.m. In France, we sit down at the table. In Japan, the dishes
are already done and the kitchen lights are off.

We talk a lot about sleep—mattresses, apps, supplements. And almost
never about the three hours before bedtime, even though it's the only
part of the night over which we have real control.

In this video, three things the Japanese don't do after 8 p.m.:

1. They don't eat dinner. In Japan, the most common time to start
the evening meal is 7 p.m. —in France, dinner starts on average at

8:15 p.m. This isn't a difference of a few minutes; it's a whole meal
better, and it halves the window before sleep.

2. They don't finish with dessert. The Japanese meal ends with
savory dishes: rice, soup, pickled vegetables. There is no "dessert time"
in its structure. In our culture, the end of a meal is signaled by sugar.

3. They don't drink what you drink. And this is the most awkward of the three,

because it concerns green tea—the kind you prepare in the evening,
thinking you're doing the right thing.

Then there's the statistic that turns the whole video on its head: despite all this, Japan is
the country that sleeps THE LEAST of all developed countries. Last out of about
thirty, with 7 hours and 22 minutes per night. I'll explain what that changes in the conclusion
at the end—and it's not "do as the Japanese do."

Enjoy listening.

— AIKO

CHAPTERS
00:00 It's 8 PM in two countries
02:21 Why exactly 8 PM?
04:23 First thing: They don't eat dinner
07:32 What a late dinner really changes
09:52 Second thing: No dessert at the end
12:45 So where does the sugar go?

14:43 Third thing: They don't drink what you drink
16:54 The numbers — and a Japanese mistake
20:15 What I didn't count: the bath
22:25 The bad news
25:09 How to really do it
28:30 My takeaways

• Dinner time in France — INSEE, "Eating Time in France":

https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/...
• Dinner time in Japan — Marketing Research Institute, Asahi University

Evening Meal Survey (2023):

http://marketing.asahi-u.ac.jp/wp-con...
• Sleep duration, international comparison (last Japan, 7 hours 22 minutes) — OECD data presented by Nippon.com:

https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/...
• Caffeine in teas and coffee, official Japanese food composition database (Ministry of Education, public database):

https://fooddb.mext.go.jp/details/det...

https://fooddb.mext.go.jp/details/det...
• Caffeine content of beverages — National Center for Consumer Affairs of Japan (2021):

https://www.kokusen.go.jp/pdf/n-20211...
• Caffeine 6 hours before bedtime — Drake et al., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2013:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24235...
• Warm bath 1 to 2 hours before bedtime — Haghayegh et al., Sleep Medicine Reviews, 2019 (meta-analysis):

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31102...
• Light in the bedroom and depressive symptoms — Obayashi et al., HEIJO-KYO cohort, American Journal of Epidemiology, 2018:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28992...
• Light in the bedroom and diabetes — HEIJO-KYO cohort, Sleep Medicine,
2020:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31704...
• Late meals and glucose tolerance — German Diabetes Research Center (DZD):
https://www.dzd-ev.de/en/press/press-...
• Structure of the Japanese meal (ichijū-sansai) — Nippon.com:

https://www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-ja...

#Japan #JapaneseHabits #Sleep #Wellbeing #NaturalHealth #Caffeine
#EveningRoutine #Lifestyle #JapaneseCulture #BetterSleep