More Than Just A Midnight Snack

Having frequent late night visits to the fridge may not just mean that you are hungry; it may actually be indicative of a sleeping-slash-eating disorder.
Night eating syndrome, as its name implies, is characterized by recurrent late night binges that has been happening for two months or more. Although it is classified as both a sleeping and eating disorder, it should not be confused with sleep-related eating disorder, in which the individual is not aware of having eaten while asleep. In night eating syndrome, the affected individual is fully awake of having sneaked out into the kitchen at the dead of night just to ransack the fridge’s contents.
Most people with night eating syndrome are typically breakfast-skippers, who can go for hours without eating a thing after waking up. They love eating after dinner, around past 9 or 10 in the evening. In fact, half of their day’s calories are derived from their after-dinner meal.
Most of these affected individuals also suffer from some psychological illness, like depression or anxiety. Since they spend most of their night eating, they also suffer from insomnia or difficulty in sleeping. No wonder it is also classified as a sleeping disorder.