Question:
The morning before, shuffled into kitchen brought back in a near half
gallon of ice cream, sat at edge of bed, gobbled it down and went back
to sleep.
This is for ME odd behavior and is quite disturbing. I am not asking
anyone to really say anything- just needed to get this off my chest and
let the group know what is happening with me, This for me is NOT normal.
Answer:
I , in addition to several friends find ourselves wakening at the
refrigerator OR finding clues that we have been eating at night with no
knowledge of having done so except for the tell tale wrappers or spilled
cereal. I have no idea as to its cause(s) but it sure does happen...AND
I wonder why I put on weight.
I've had Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome for a long time. Only recently did I
begin to notice I also have a strong tendency to put off eating throughout
my "day," eat sweets before sleeping, and often wake up in the middle of my
"night" and binge on things like fruit or candy or ice cream. It was in
April that I first heard of Albert J. Stunkard's research into "night eating
syndrome" http://www.med.upenn.edu/weight/ajsbio.html
Some think that the foods we choose during these episodes are precisely the
ones that raise serotonin levels. I wonder if sleep-eating also affects
cortisol, dopamine--other hormones and neurotransmitters involved with sleep
and its timing. Isn't it exhausting to have to learn all about this stuff?
Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc. Night Eating Syndrome
http://www.anred.com/nes.html
Beyond the strictly physical reasons, night-eating is an unconscious way to
deal with stress...
http://www.wellmedia.com/news/news5397.html
Binge eating and night eating are widely overlapping but different
behaviors... http://kathy-on-the-edge.com/eatdis/news/news05.htm
The night eating syndrome in the general population
http://www.med.upenn.edu/weight/publications.html
Sleep Eating Disorder or Nocturnal Sleep-Related Eating Disorder (NS-RED)
http://www.something-fishy.org/sed-nes.htm
Here's more information on Night Eating Syndrome:
http://www.anred.com/nes.html
