question - anyone here have a "sleep eating" disorder? now, admittedly, i'm not diagnosed with actual "sleep eating"...
but seriously - i have this issue where, #1 - i'm a horrible sleeper. once i AM asleep (which takes me HOURS)...it's incredibly difficult for me to wake up and i'm a HORRIBLE morning person. but during the night - when i CAN'T sleep - i wake up and find myself going to the kitchen like 2 or 3 times during the night. most of the time it's just a banana or a granola bar - or sommething REALLY small - but i find that i'm doing this because i CAN'T SLEEP.
and i ALWAYS eat a healthy and filling dinner - and usually at a good time. but by 2 a.m. - 3 a.m., etc..i'm starving and find myself NOT sleeping and hungry. :-(
now, i work at 6 a.m. and am up at 5:30 eating breakfast - but i don't know what to do for my midnight snacking. :-(
Oooh oooh . . . something rarely discussed here, but I have heard of this. It's called "night eating syndrome" and it's classified as a sleep disorder (I've actually read about it while researching sleep disorders). I'm not sure about how it's accepted as an eating disorder. I don't know too much about your problem, and I'm not a doctor, so I'm just suggesting the possibility. You may want to research it further
Okay, as I have sleeping difficulties as well, but I don't have an appetite past 12 (usually), my advice to you would be drinking coffee or tea while browsing the internet or reading a book/magazine. Just stay occupied. It works for me, takes my mind off of food, and keeps me occupied until I finally do get to sleep. And the recommendation I hear most frequently regarding lying in bed for hours *trying* to fall asleep, is get up and do something else. So I wouldn't tell you to stay put in bed, but don't let yourself stray into the kitchen to eat something. And set out your coffee or tea ahead of time, so you don't have to go into your cupboard, and see a temptation. Hide all visible food in your kitchen, because if you see it, you'll want it. And then you can make your tea or coffee (decaf of course ) and get out of the kitchen as quickly as possible.
It sounds more like nerves and exhaustion to me. Maybe you're a nervous eater, (or at least a boredom eater) and exhaustion generally will make anyone hungry. When I have insomnia, I do "graze" late at night. When I was living at home and had no control over what food we did or didn't have, I'd go into the kitchen 10 times a night looking for something in the fridge but I'd just stand there and not get anything, or I'd eat a slice of cheese or something. My grandma would wake up and ask me if I was actually hungry or if I was just trying to air condition the house.
My BIL has the true sleep eating disorder. He literally wakes up in the morning, crumbs all in the bed and plates on the side table he has NO clue how they got there. He has no recollection of fixing any food whatsoever. He's even been caught doing it and he doesn't remember that either.
If I were you, I'd go to a doctor about the insomnia and then address the issue with late night eating if it's still a problem. Lack of sleep is NOT good, I've been a severe insomniac since I was a child. I finally got put on the right medicine and it's helped me alot overall. I cannot function when I have insomnia, I get kinda... My emotions go wonky and I tend to get upset at all kinds of things and worry and start the negative thinking. Then I really can't get to sleep and it's an endless cycle. Unfortunately, I'm just a night owl by nature but hey, better living through chemistry!
OMG! I did this last night! I find when I have disrupted sleep or am very tired or didn't have a great meal before bed. Last night must've got up 3 or 5 times and I ate a whole mini pack (5 cookies) of silly little oaty cookies!
I find if I eat properly before I go to bed I'm usually ok.
I can relate to this!..I used to get up at nite one eye open one eye closed and eat whatever I could get my hands on..I would eat with my eyes closed because Iwas sleepy..This all went away when I started taking anti-depressants!...It not only cured my depression but sleep eating also!..L.
YIKES, I use to do this all the time.
Now i fill a glass with water before i go to bed. I leave it on the kitchen counter and I put everything away that is edible. There are mornings when my water is gone and i honestly dont remember gettin up and driniking it!
I have had one sleep-eating incident - TRUE sleep-eating, not just "night eating. It was when I was far thinner. . .and not keeping myself there through any healthy habits, if you understand what I mean. . .and I had made a cheesecake, and I WOKE UP IN THE MORNING AND IT WAS HALF GONE.
Nobody else in the house. Nothing else that could have happened. Just me, eating half a cheesecake IN MY SLEEP.
Yup, I'm a night-eater . When I'm stressed, the first thing to go is my ability to stay asleep. The second thing to go is my will power. The third thing to go is Special K. Sometimes 2 - 3 times a night.
I can't tell you the number of times I've woken up with an empty bowl beside my bed (and a spoon under the sheets with me) .
I am a sleep eater as well. I have often times realized that this happens when I can't sleep and am restless. These times I can't sleep are usually when I am stressed out.
I do the water thing as well. However, I leave it by the bed. If I wake up and "feel" hungry, I drink the water. I have to do this because if I even make it to the kitchen, then fridge will be empty the next day. OOPS!
is anyone a "sleep eater?"
) and get out of the kitchen as quickly as possible.
My emotions go wonky and I tend to get upset at all kinds of things and worry and start the negative thinking. Then I really can't get to sleep and it's an endless cycle. Unfortunately, I'm just a night owl by nature but hey, better living through chemistry! 
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