As the days of staying at home increased, we began to forget our current habits.
We began to look for different dishes on the tables and wanted to try different recipes. The refrigerator door began to be opened frequently and the drawers began to be rummaged through. When you no longer had a reason to get up early, your sleeping hours got longer and you started going to bed late at night. After this, the cycle of TV series, movies and games until the morning determined your sleep hours. In fact, when your daily routine is disrupted, sleep patterns are one of the first things to change. As such, the body changes its circadian rhythm to adapt to going to bed late and waking up late. In this case, the body changes its circadian rhythm to adapt to going to bed late and waking up late. Circadian rhythm is defined as
the totality of the body's physiological and psychological behaviors in the 24-hour cycle. Circadian rhythms of eating and sleeping in the body often work in conjunction with each other. Disruption of your sleep pattern may increase your appetite and desire to eat.
In these difficult days, your desire to eat may increase due to the stress caused by news and social media or the boredom of sitting at home
. Especially in cases of stress, the cortisol hormone secreted from the adrenal glands causes your appetite to increase, especially your desire to eat sweets. This situation actually directs you to consume food not physiologically but psychologically. Consuming food for pleasure is known as hedonic nutrition.
During this process, you may have noticed that you have an increased appetite, especially late at night. So, is this desire to eat due to hunger or psychological? Night eating syndrome is a condition in which increased appetite and sleep problems occur at night. Does the person who says "I eat every night" have an eating disorder? Just because you eat at night does not mean that you have night eating
syndrome. In order to make a diagnosis, it is necessary to evaluate
different criteria. 6 different criteria have been determined for night eating syndrome and it is planned to make a diagnosis in this way. The first of these is the increased food consumption in the evening and night hours. Approximately 2% of daily calories 5 are taken after dinner
. Eating at night, which occurs at least 2-3 times a week, if not every day, can also be included in this group. As the second criterion, individuals with night eating syndrome
do not want to eat breakfast and usually have a very poor appetite in the morning. Thirdly, these individuals have a constant desire to eat something from dinner until they fall asleep.
In fact, this desire is so strong that it can even cause individuals to wake up from sleep.
In addition, suffering from insomnia is among the diagnostic criteria. Another criterion is that individuals with this syndrome feel obliged to eat in order to sleep or to fall asleep again
after waking up at night. At the same time,
studies also show that these individuals experience increased depressive
mood, especially in the evening hours, due to insomnia. What drives individuals to this state of mind is the sadness of not being able to suppress their increased food cravings at night, irritability, and the feeling of guilt and shame that comes after food consumption. It is important that all these diagnostic criteria continue for a period of at least 3 months
independent of any drug or substance addiction, health problem or psychiatric disorder.
Normal weight range, slightly overweight or obese. Although night eating syndrome is a condition that can be seen in all individuals, research shows that you are more likely to have night eating syndrome if you are prone to obesity. In particular, the fact that individuals turn to bread, sandwiches and candies negatively affects the weight loss process. Insomnia, another symptom of this syndrome, disrupts your circadian rhythm, making it difficult for you to lose weight. This syndrome is more common in individuals with depression,
anxiety problems or substance addiction. Dear parents; Studies show that children of
parents with night eating syndrome are more likely to have this syndrome.
In addition to drug treatment of night eating syndrome, behavior therapy is also a very effective
method. In addition, individuals should adopt healthy eating habits Gaining n
is also a part of the treatment process. A study has shown that nutritional therapy is also important in addition to the psychological
treatment applied to individuals. Keeping a food consumption record, planning meals and restricting daily calorie intake are also important for treatment. Therefore, nutritional status must be planned with a dietitian during the treatment process. When calorie restriction is made gradually and individuals' calorie intake during the day is well adjusted, their nighttime consumption also decreases. Recent studies show that there may be a connection between food consumption after 20:00 in the evening and increased body mass index. To get rid of night eating syndrome with nutritional therapy, you can start by not taking home the foods you frequently consume at night. Research shows that in this case, night eating attacks may gradually decrease over weeks.
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