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If you wake up well after midnight to have a bite to eat, then you probably wondered: what is wrong with me? We went to the refrigerator and thought: is it really normal to want to eat so much at three in the morning? Let’s try to understand the reasons for this phenomenon.
To begin with, the strength of hunger is partially regulated by our circadian rhythms: it usually rises several times during the day, and then declines at night. According to neuroscientist Erin Hanlon, nature simply didn’t design late night as a time for snacking. So, if this “alarm clock” makes you wake up from a sound sleep, then there is something to think about.
If such awakenings happen to you regularly, then it is worth checking whether they are related to the following circumstances.
Are you malnourished
If your body does not receive its portion of calories during the day, it is not surprising that it has to wake you up in the middle of the night and send you in search of food. Especially, according to nutritionist Alice Ramsey, this applies to those who are on a strict diet and skip the evening meal.
Serious changes in physical activity also lead to a lack of calories – for example, if you start a new set of intense workouts.
You don’t get enough sleep
Lack of sleep leads to the fact that the production of hormones that regulate appetite decreases. This increases hunger and increases the body’s need for carbohydrate-rich foods. Even at night.
Are you stressed
A high level of anxiety is what can wake you up in the middle of the night. And since you are not sleeping, you can go to the refrigerator to somehow comfort yourself. And it works: “While the body is busy digesting food, there is simply no resource left to boil in the thoughts that woke you up,” explains psychologist and director of the Center for Weight Control and Eating Disorders at the University of Pennsylvania Kelly Ellison.
In such a situation, your task is one thing: to determine what exactly is happening to you, what worries you, what thoughts you are trying to distract from. And work directly with them.
You have “night snacking syndrome”
Do you wake up hungry at least a couple of times a week for a month? This may be a sign that you have the so-called “night eating syndrome”.
Usually people with this syndrome – and they are at least 1,5% of the population – receive a significant portion of their calories at night. They simply do not want to eat in the morning. In addition, they often have problems with mood, which worsens in the evening, as well as difficulty falling asleep.
What to do?
First of all, experts recommend being more attentive to your body: to respond to the feeling of hunger that occurs during the day, providing the body with the necessary amount of calories. “When you start eating regularly during the day, observing equal intervals between meals, you will most likely soon find that you are less likely to wake up from hunger at night,” says Alice Ramsey.
If the problem persists, try eating only something light before bed – granola yogurt, cereal with milk, or cheese with crackers. Heavier food will only prevent you from falling asleep. And keep a food diary to recognize your own eating habits and patterns.
You took all the measures and still woke up with a rumbling in your stomach? Don’t starve yourself – eat something light and go to bed. And in the morning, continue to monitor your condition and follow a diet.