Night eating is thought to be a stress-related problem affecting about 2% of the general population, about 9% of obese people, and about 27% of severely obese people. While night eating is believed to be a response to stress and anxiety, it is not yet clear if it is a sleep disorder or an eating disorder.
What is known is that night eating is often associated with depression, anxiety and stress. Research shows that people with night eating patterns score higher for depression and have lower self esteem than subjects without such night eating patterns.
Late-night eating is a common reaction to everyday stress and tension, which almost guarantees overeating and binge eating at night. Excessive night eating is a recipe for weight gain because the body stores more fat during sleep.
Late night eating is the danger zone for most people. The main problem with night eating is that you don’t stay awake or are active long enough after eating to burn off the calories, and your body stores them as fat while you sleep.
One reason why night eating is associated with weight gain is because many people who eat too little during the day come home starving and the evening becomes one long eating fest. Eating light in the evening is much preferred because your metabolism slows down at night, naturally burning fewer calories.
Your body simply doesn’t have the chance to burn off the fat and calories you’ve consumed in the evening. For most of us, eating at night is counterproductive to fat loss because your physical activity decreases throughout the evening. Most weight loss programs recommend stopping night eating 2-3 hours before bed; late night eating is usually mindless munching of carbs while watching TV.
Eating at night is just easy to do; we feel less inhibited, especially if we are alone and no one is watching. You may feel like you “deserve” a treat after a long day. But when you work on creating new habits for night eating, be sure that the reason you are eating at night is really hunger, not boredom or just a mindless habit.
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