[KristenFlynn3]

My binges mostly occur at night right before I go to bed...When I dont binge (last night first night in about 3 weeks) before bed I CANT SLEEP!! I feel like an insomniac but I think its because I dont have that full comforting feeling I was just wondering if anyone else has this problem and what you do to sleep, last night I read a bunch of posts on 3fc and browsed the internet for a while but I can see myself just being like "oh this is lame im going to eat". So anyone know how to get to sleep when you feel unfulfilled???

[xxkaleidoscopic]

I haven't had this problem, but it may just take a few days to adjust to the feeling of not being comfortably full. Maybe try drinking a lot of water before bed? Or green tea? Or hot chocolate/chocolate milk? I find that Warm drinks fill me if I don't want to eat. Soup is also a good option.

[paris81]

There was a time when I used the crash from a binge to help me sleep--it was part of my "reason" for binging--I had trouble sleeping, and I knew that if I ate before bed, the carbs/sugars/whatever would spike me up, then I'd sleep wonderfully from the fall.

Maybe you've gotten used to that? Just a theory, based on my own experience. Try melatonin--it's a natural supplement that helps regular your clock, you can get it at any pharmacy, over the counter.

[triasa]

I have that same fight. I can go all day without binge-eating, but at night, I don't want to deny myself any longer. I feel so bad about myself that I need that pleasure to distract myself from my painful feelings.

So I flop myself down on the couch and tell myself, "I'm only going to take a short nap. Then I'll get up and do whatever it is I'm wanting."

With that fight over, I end up sleeping through the night (with clothes on) without binge-eating after all.

[Zoseph]

Hmm that's interesting. The opposite actually happens to me. I usually have a snack that turns into binging at night, but I recently stopped and I found that it's easier for me to sleep if I'm not full. Then just last night I binged right before bed and I felt awful while I was trying to sleep.

Try going a few more nights without binging before bed (tough, I know) and see if your body adjusts. If it doesn't, I agree with xxkaleidoscopic that drinking some water or milk or something like that to give you a full feeling could help. I also agree with paris81 about the melatonin - I take it pretty regularly because I have trouble sleeping and it's WONDERFUL.

[uwfan27]

Nighttime binges are my issue too, and usually I get the urge while I'm in bed to go scrounge up the food. It doesn't happen every night, but when it does, man it's impossible to stop. I have trouble sleeping in general, so I have an over the counter sleep aid I use from time to time (OK, more often than that...) Perhaps you can give that a try for a few nights just to wean yourself off of food. Then replace the sleep aid with a nightly ritual that will prepare your brain for sleep; warm bath, a chapter of a book etc. I've been told my doctors that it is very important to only use your bed for sleep and sex, never to do anything stimulating in it like reading on the computer, because your body won't associate the bed with sleep. I don't adhere to this one myself, but I've heard it time and time again from professionals, so I'm sure it helps. Hopefully you can overcome to nighttime eating and sleep soundly soon!