To understand this problem, night hunger syndrome can be considered within sleep or eating disorders, depending on the person’s state of consciousness during the episode of compulsive hunger, in any case, this is a problem in which, during the night and then at dinner, the person gets up and eats large amounts of uncontrolled food , with preference for foods high in calories and carbohydrates.
It is estimated to affect 1. 5% of the population (Germany, 2014) and has serious health consequences (Zwaan, Muller, Allison, Brahler and Hilbert, 2014), so in this article we will talk about what night hunger syndrome is, how it manifests itself, why it happens, what its characteristics are and how the treatment is performed, because, although it is a rare problem and something unknown , deserves our attention.
- Night hunger syndrome was identified by Dr.
- Albert Stunkard in 1955 and is now considered a sleep disorder and not an eating disorder.
- The Mental Illness Classification Manual (DSM-5) classifies it as a non-remy sleep awakening disorder or an unsoficient eating disorder depending on the individual’s state of consciousness during the episode.
- We’ll look at these two cases below.
“Night hunger syndrome can be tested within sleep or eating disorders, depending on the person’s state of consciousness during the episode of compulsive hunger. “
When ingestion occurs during sleep and the person is not aware of it, it is called night hunger syndrome as a subtype of sleepwalking: it occurs in phase IV of sleep, which is characterized by slow waves and very deep sleep. What happens is that the person gets up and eats compulsively without realizing it, because he is not conscious, even if he appears to be awake and can open the fridge, chew and swallow; thus, as with sleepwalking, there is no awareness of the acts, nor a memory of them. what happened the next morning.
On the other hand, when we talk about night hunger in a period of time when the person is aware at all times that he is eating, a fact that generates a memory, we are talking about other eating disorders not specified according to DSM-5. , and are called “night food ingestion syndrome”.
In this case there is also a compulsive diet, but there is some will in this behavior and there is a reminder of what happened, when night hunger occurs with sleep disturbances, these characteristics are not observed, there is simply a compulsive and nocturnal diet without pattern. awareness.
If night hunger presents as an eating disorder, it is easy to diagnose because frequent episodes of bingeing are observed at dawn or before bedtime, that is, it is an action that can be observed in the person as if it were a food addiction. : even if you do not want to eat and even the person maintains the goal of losing weight, the episode of stress occurs, which although difficult to admit and recognize, is observable behavior because the person is conscious when eating at night uncontrolled.
However, if night hunger presents as a sleep disorder, symptoms can be very difficult to identify. The most common way to detect night hunger syndrome as a sleep disorder is for the person to eat or start gaining weight without knowing why. In addition, some of the food in the refrigerator disappears at night and no one remembers eating them, as it is a problem that occurs in the deep stage of sleep and that waking up at this stage is very difficult, it is more complicated for the individual who has the disorder to be able to perceive what is happening.
In short, night hunger syndrome can be an eating disorder or it can also be a sleep disorder (such as a subtype of sleepwalking); In any case, it is an exaggerated and compulsive diet that occurs during the night and after dinner, when the person has already eaten and satisfied, thus eliminating psychological or psychiatric problems.
In the case of the treatment of compulsive hunger as an eating disorder, the problem arises because food is a way out for anxiety and depression, eating becomes a strategy to deal with discomfort and problems, the syndrome develops as if it were a food addiction and that is why , in night hunger, the person feels like eating and nothing calms him down to eat.
On the other hand, when food intake occurs during sleep, we are faced with a syndrome that occurs because there is an “error”. Awakening; the person wakes up when they are not ready and then activates their motor system (voluntary movement) and are put into practice?Automatisms or behaviors learned, such as walking, talking and eating. As a result, most people with night hunger are unaware of their behavior and can wake up eating without understanding what they are doing and how they got there.
Either way, night hunger syndrome is more common in people who are already obese and is generally related to hormonal disorders (melatonin and stress hormones) and neurotransmitters, such as Serotonin. Therefore, different scientific studies explain how night hunger can be successfully treated with drugs, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRS), administration of melatonin (sleep hormone) and meditation, which aims to reduce stress response (Zapp, Fischer
In general, deficiencies in sleep and circadian rhythm tend to cause nighttime hunger, although the causes of this disorder are varied and little known, it is now assumed that factors such as anxiety, stress, obesity and circadian imbalances are the most common causes. Strategies focused on the emotional, rather than the problem itself, are also related to compulsive hunger syndrome, and it is these strategies that psychological intervention should focus.
“Eating becomes a strategy to deal with discomfort and problems. The syndrome develops as if it were an addiction to food and that is why, in night hunger, the person feels like eating and nothing calms him down until he eats ?.
Intervention in this disorder is multidisciplinary: nutritionists work to help the person lose weight, psychiatrists to define the necessary medications and psychologists to deal with the behavior, in addition to the emotional and cognitive aspects of the patient and their problem. considering that it is not simply a physical disorder with a single consequence, such as weight gain, in fact, we are talking about people who experience high levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms who need psychological treatment.
On the other hand, there are a number of behavioral measures, such as closing the refrigerator with a padlock, installing systems that help the person wake up when getting out of bed or preventing them from leaving the room, among others. , if compulsive hunger appears as an eating disorder, psychological therapy of insomnia is necessary: by preventing the person from eating before falling asleep, problems may arise to fall asleep. In all cases of night hunger, a number of changes must be made to increase the difficulty of accessing food.