When you eat breakfast could play a surprising role in your long-term health—and might even influence how long you live.

New research suggests that as people age, the timing of their meals—especially breakfast—may reveal important clues about their overall health and longevity. Eating breakfast later in the day was linked to higher rates of health problems such as depression, fatigue, and oral health issues, as well as a greater risk of early death.

“Our research suggests that changes in when older adults eat, especially the timing of breakfast, could serve as an easy-to-monitor marker of their overall health status,” lead author Hassan Dashti, PhD, RD, a nutrition scientist and circadian biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a news release. “Encouraging older adults in having consistent meal schedules could become part of broader strategies to promoting healthy aging and longevity.”

The study, published in Communications Medicine, followed nearly 3,000 adults in the U.K. aged 42 to 94, for more than 20 years. Participants reported when they typically ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with information on sleep habits, occupations, and perceived health. As participants aged, their breakfast and dinner times gradually shifted later. On average, each additional decade of life was linked to an eight-minute delay in breakfast and a four-minute delay in dinner. Their overall eating window—the number of hours between first and last meal—also narrowed.

Notably, delaying breakfast was associated with more chronic health conditions and a higher risk of death during the 20-year follow-up. Each additional hour’s delay in breakfast time corresponded to an 8–11% increased risk of death.

These findings show that “later meal timing, especially delayed breakfast, is tied to both health challenges and increased mortality risk in older adults,” said Dashti. “They add new meaning to the saying that ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day,’ especially for older individuals.” While the study can’t prove that eating earlier directly causes longer life, experts say the evidence points toward benefits of an early, consistent breakfast routine.

“Our metabolism is programmed for eating soon after we wake,” said Courtney M. Peterson, PhD, associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Skipping breakfast and eating later can lead to glucose spikes later in the day, which may damage blood vessels, increase inflammation, and raise the risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

In other words: aim to eat within one to two hours of waking. Doing so helps synchronize your body’s internal clock, supporting better metabolism and sleep patterns throughout the day.