Night Eating Syndrome

From the Merck Manual (1982 ed.) p.917:

"Night Eating Syndrome consists of morning anorexia, evening hyperphagia (abnormally increased appetite for consumption of food frequently associated with injury to the hypothalamus) and insomnia. Attempts at weight reduction in these 2 conditions, (referring to bulimia as well), are usually unsuccessful and may cause the patient unnecessary distress."

The authors call both syndromes, "deviant eating patterns apparently based on stress and emotional disturbance..."

Episodes of Anorexia and Insomnia can begin at an early age, usually in children who are overweight, and are sometimes accompanied by joint paint. It is interesting to note what the parent of a now 24 year old daughter had to say...

"I've always had the feeling that much of the stress and emotional disturbances my daughter has suffered have been the result of social rejection and discrimination rather than the cause of her eating disorder ... more so as she got older. She started out as an intelligent, outgoing, cheerful human being. There is a line in our culture where a marginally acceptable "chubby" child becomes a miserable adolescent and then a depressed adult."

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People with Night-eating syndrome are characterized as people that put off eating until late in the day, who binge on food in the evenings and who experience problems with falling asleep and/or staying asleep.

"People who exhibit NES don't eat a lot at one sitting, often skip breakfast, and don't start eating until noon," says psychiatrist Albert Stunkard, an obesity researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. "They will over eat the rest of the day, and eat frequently. They also have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep."