Is It Unhealthy To Eat at Night? Do I Have Night Eating Syndrome (NES)?

Eating in the night is relatively common — however, when done frequently, it can be a sign of a specific eating disorder. Night eating syndrome (NES) is a condition in which a person eats a large portion of their daily caloric intake during the night after dinner time. This disorder can negatively impact an individual's mental and physical health, often causing obesity, depression, and poor sleep quality. Here’s what you need to know.

Night eating syndrome (NES) is characterized by an unusual need to eat after dinner and throughout the night. NES usually causes you to wake up during the night to eat and may lead you to believe that you need food to fall asleep. This condition can severely impact your life, increasing stress levels and causing distress and obesity.

NES is a relatively uncommon disorder, only affecting about 1.5% of the population. Experts estimate that the prevalence of this condition increases among people with other food-related conditions, such as obesity. NES also seems more common among women.

While many people tend to eat or snack before going to sleep, a few critical characteristics separate NES from typical late-night behavior. Experts suggest that people with NES eat large amounts of food during the night, accounting for at least 25% of their daily calories. Furthermore, NES causes multiple awakenings that people suffering from the disorder can easily remember, happening at least twice per week. If you can’t recall the night-eating episodes, you may have a sleep-related eating disorder instead.

The causes of NES aren’t entirely understood, but experts theorize that it may be closely linked to your circadian pattern of food intake. This pattern dictates when you need to eat according to your body’s internal clock. For example, a typical food circadian pattern may dictate that you need to eat as soon as you wake up.

Researchers suggest that this circadian pattern can get desynchronized with your usual sleep-wake patterns. This causes you to wake up multiple times throughout the night, as your body and brain believe it’s the right time to have a meal.

Another leading theory is that night eating syndrome may be genetic, as people with this condition usually have relatives with NES. This genetic predisposition causes stress to heavily affect your body’s internal clock, although more research is needed to confirm this theory.

While eating in the night isn’t necessarily unhealthy, NES refers to specific patterns that can severely impact your health. The possible consequences of this condition can be mental and physical and may worsen if you don’t treat it. Here are some of the complications of night eating syndrome:

Obesity

The biggest concern regarding NES is obesity, as people with this condition usually eat more than 25% of their daily calories at night. This makes them prone to overeating, leading to a significant caloric surplus. The link between NES and obesity has been confirmed multiple times, with experts suggesting that 6% to 16% of obese people have NES.

A key factor to consider is that people with NES often feel frustrated and ashamed about their condition. This encourages them to restrict their caloric intake during the daytime to control their daily calories. But they often eat even more at night, as NES episodes are usually hard to control.

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