Night Eating And Anxiety

Just knowing that you will face another night of night eating can cause anxiety in anticipation. Night eating is not easy to control, and feeling out of control with night eating is not a comfortable state.

You may have tried many activities to stop night eating – reading, smoking, locking yourself in the bedroom. The longer you have been in a night eating pattern, the harder it is to control.

People who struggle with night eating often feel anxious, depressed and guilty about their night eating behavior. Fears and anxiety tend to surface at night, which only intensifies the desire to eat to calm down.

Worry and anxiety tend to have a negative impact on your life, and the more anxious you feel, the more it interferes with your life. To make matters worse, worry tends to perpetuate itself in a vicious cycle.

Excessive worry and anxiety can have your thoughts racing, heart racing and your stomach tied in knots. In addition, some people feel angry and agitated with their own night eating behavior, so that only adds to the problem.

You may worry about your own health as well as any stress that is currently keeping you from getting a good night’s sleep.

Eating at night tends to stop anxiety temporarily, but it doesn’t really go away. Just like anti-anxiety medication, eating at night only masks the anxiety. The anxiety itself and the desire for eating at night soon return.

Unfortunately, by eating at night and feeling comforted, you only reinforce the night eating pattern.

Many people worry that they won’t be able to get to sleep (or get back to sleep) without eating at night. And they worry about not getting a good night’s sleep, and not being able to function well the next day without a good night’s sleep.

It’s easy to see why people turn to night eating when all of these worries are on your mind. If eating at night comforts and soothes you, then you can focus on the taste and texture of the food, and the feeling of fullness rather than the anxiety and stress you are feeling.

By addressing the anxiety directly, you’ll have a much better chance of breaking the night eating pattern.

Tagged as: eating at night, late night eating, night eating, Night Eating Patterns