Scientists explain what makes people wake up at night to eat
Miscellaneous / / May 16, 2021
This could be a sign of an eating disorder.
If you've caught yourself eating a night out once, it's most likely an accident. But if visits to the refrigerator have become regular, this may be a symptom.
Why eating at night should make you wary
In general, our body knows very well that sleep and food intake are fundamentally different processes. Therefore, when a person goes to bed, the level of leptin rises in his blood.Neuroendocrine Profiles Associated with Energy Intake, Sleep, and Stress in the Night Eating Syndrome - a hormone that suppresses appetite.
Upon awakening, he returns to normal. But the level of ghrelin increasesThe role of leptin and ghrelin in the regulation of food intake and body weight in humans: a review - this hormone makes you wonder if it's time to eat. This is how a healthy human body regulates appetite under normal conditions.
Crashes can sometimes happen. Perhaps you have exercised too hard during the day and your body needs energy. Or you get nervous and your brain needs extra glucose to recover. Or maybe you just drank a lot of fluids before bed, and your full bladder keeps waking you up.
In general, due to some extraordinary situation, you do not have enough calories, you cannot really fall asleep, the hormonal adjustment of appetite fails - and you find yourself at midnight by the refrigerator.
However, if you have attacks of night hunger at least a couple of timesTreatment of Night Eating Syndrome per week, the reason may be more serious.
Scientists claim that the night diet is a fairly common thing. Most oftenSleep-Related Eating Disorders it occurs in obese peopleThe night-eating syndrome and obesityas well as those who take psychoactive substances or suffer from mental disorders.
About 1.5% of the populationThe prevalence of night eating syndrome and binge eating disorder among overweight and obese individuals with serious mental illness night binge eating takes on such a pronounced form that it is classified as a disorder - night binge eating syndrome.
Why people regularly wake up at night to have a snack, scientists do not know for sure. However, there are versions.
What pulls you to the fridge at night
Here are some of the options.
1. You don't eat up during the day
Neuroscientist Nicole Avena, whose professional interests include nutrition, diets, food addictions, in comments she told Vice that nighttime meals occur when people start to starve - for example, sit on too much hard diet.
Nicole Avena
Neurobiologist
During the day, these people get so few calories that the circadian rhythm is completely disrupted. They lack the nutrients to get adequate sleep. Therefore, they wake up from the fact that the body insistently demands food.
This usually goes away when the body adjusts to dietary restrictions.
2. It's a side effect of an eating disorder.
Scientists have found that among those who eat at night, many people are diagnosed with disorders eating behavior. So, one studyNight eating syndrome in patients with eating disorders: Is night eating syndrome distinct from bulimia nervosa? showed that 51% of patients with bulimia and about 35% with anorexic tend to eat past midnight.
Kelly Ellison
Professor of Psychology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
In a half-asleep state, people have less self-control. Therefore, a person who persistently avoids food during the day may well look into the refrigerator at night.
3. Are you overwhelmed or under constant stress?
Prolonged stress is a common causeWhy stress causes people to overeat overeating. Including nightlife.
The same professor Allison found that about three-quarters of people who regularly eat at night experienced some kind of stressful event. It was this that disrupted their sleep patterns and made night snacks attractive.
Other dataNight Eating Syndrome in Major Depression and Anxiety Disorders suggest that people with depression or anxiety disorders are more likely to overeat at night.
Basically, any type of mood disorder can cause a person to wake up and eat at night.
4. It's just heredity
If someone close to you also wakes up from time to time at night to raid the refrigerator, you may have some common gene.Familial aggregation in the night eating syndromeprovoking such behavior. However, scientists have not figured it out yet.
Why is it bad to eat at night
If you go up to the refrigerator only occasionally, there is nothing wrong with that. But regular night snacks can be harmful to your health.
- After eating at night, you will most likely have a poor breakfast. This means that you will experience a lack of energy in the morning.
- Nighttime digestion interferes with sleep. You will be spinning in bed, waking up more often to go to the toilet. As a result, not sleep well and throughout the day you will feel less efficient than usual.
- Frequent nighttime snacks raise bad cholesterol levels over timeNighttime snacking whole body fat oxidation and increases LDL cholesterol reduces healthy young women and glucoseThe effects of nocturnal life on endocrine circadian patterns in healthy adults in blood. This means that there is an increased risk of cardiovascular problems, diabetes and obesity.
How to stop eating at night
Psychology professor Kelly Ellison suggests one such option.
- Try replacing your meal with another activity. For example, meditate, take deep breaths, read, or listen to soothing music.
- Find a way to make it difficult to access food. Lock your kitchen or refrigerator overnight if it has this feature. Or make sure that you do not have foods that you can eat right away, without cooking: sausages, chips, pizza, chocolate. To cook something, you will have to fully wake up, which means that self-control will increase and you can give up the idea of a night snack.
If simple methods don't work, it makes sense to consult with a therapist or psychotherapist who specializes in eating disorders. Perhaps, in your case, we are talking about some kind of malfunction in the body, and it is important to diagnose it as early as possible.
What you definitely don't need to do is take an over-the-counter sleep supplement, such as melatonin, at night. These drugs really help you fall asleep. But at night you will wake up sleepy and completely relaxed. This means that you will control yourself even worse.
Read also🧐
- How I got rid of compulsive binge eating and came to a healthy diet
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- 6 reasons for overeating and how to deal with them