Research indicates that people with night eating syndrome tend to suffer from a distinct form of depression. In contrast to the usual pattern where depression is more pronounced in the early part of the day, night eaters tend to become more depressed during the evening.

It’s not clear what causes night eating syndrome and why it is associated with depression or addiction. One theory is that night eating syndrome involves a disruption in the hormones that regulate sleep, appetite, or mood. Because late-night snacking usually involves carbohydrate-rich “comfort” foods, this theory holds that night eating syndrome is a form of self-medication.

Harvard. Edu

 

 

Dear Visitors,

 

We have covered this topic before but the night time eating is becoming quite common amongst people. We have had so many emails on the night time eating and the stress this cycle of eating is causing people. People want to know why they wake up at night and engage in such behaviour? The cases we have reviewed are 60% related to physical hunger and restriction and remaining related to emotional eating, loneliness and environmental factors.

Many people feel in control during the day but when night-time comes it’s very hard to maintain that control and the binging cycle usually becomes worst at the night. The simple reason for this is hunger, under eating, restriction during the day. If you’ve been skipping breakfast, cutting out food groups or only eating and drinking empty calorie foods all day, the chances are that your body is famished and lacking in vital nutrients.

 

ED Cases

 

 

We have a young person from West Bank, who is in recovery from her eating disorder. She was in remission and recently started to experience frequent episodes of night time eating. These episodes are disturbing for her as the post binge guilt follows impacting her mood and her activities through the day. Also the night time eating is causing disturbance in her sleep patterns.

MA had a hearty dinner and went to bed feeling content. After few hours she woke up at 2am and went to the kitchen and had another meal. She later felt guilty and to compensate for the late night binge, she fasted the following day. The episode of eating at 2am in the morning has been going on for months now with only very sporadic breaks of in between. Recently she made a decision to lock herself in the room at night, so she doesn’t have to go through the eating regime.

The case of West Bank is unique as MA wakes up at set time and follows a set routine of the eating. She has tried to add variation to what she eats, but without eating she cannot go to sleep. MA reason for her eating can fall into a category of undereating and having black and white thinking.

MA has body image issues and has battled BED. Her mind is forever in battle and she is constantly battling thoughts of food and weight.  She also feels that intermittent fasting is a way to balance her eating.

 

 

 

“I have no plans to eat this late at night, but it’s like I am in a trance, I’m confused and there’s intense panic and hunger that I am feeling. I can’t help myself. I eat and eat and I cannot tell you the level of guilt I feel. I waste an hour in this activity and when I return to bed, I lay awake for hours. My day is marred by my nigh time eating, my face is puffy and my sleep deprived mind cannot function. To get through the day, I drink so much coffee, feeling full and hungry at the same time. Nine months into late night eating without a single break and I’m dying from inside.”

AN UK

 

“I fell into the trap of late night eating while binge watching back to back shows on the Netflix. It seemed ok at that time, as I was so focused on killing the show that by the time I realised I had a problem, it was months into late night eating. I am in bed by 10pm. But oddly I started to wake up past midnight and I would comfort eating. It’s a habit which has a huge cost, my weight has fluctuated significantly and once upon a time, excited at the prospect of having treats at night, I now dread going to sleep. I try to delay sleeping, delay my dinner and spend hours on screen or in the home gym. But it doesn’t matter what time I fall asleep, I eat at night. “

Male 19 USA

 

Night Time Eating and Us breaking the Loop

in the Light of Islam

 

 

Reasons for Night Time Eating (NES)

 

The first reason is dieting, hunger, day time restricted eating. If you aren’t eating enough food, skipping meals and snacks then you’re setting yourself up to binge. The body simply didn’t get enough calories and therefore a late night binge can occur to compensate for the deficit in calories

 

The second reason is emotional hunger. This type of emotional hunger is less about the food and more about what the food allows us to avoid. People binge also due to the social and environmental and emotional factors. The suppressed emotions and mitigating circumstances not dealt in a healthy way can lead to binge as a way to feel better. The food has the power to numb the mind, so you don’t have to feel anything.

Others reasons differ from loneliness, habit or boredom. Dieting mind/ED mind also leads to the binge, labelling food as good and bad, sadness, dealing with stress and other feelings.

 

Overcoming night-time eating?

The only way to overcome overeating is to get to the root cause of your hunger. It’ important to reflect on your actions and thought patterns to identify your triggers and to work through them to make the changes. The first step to beat nigh time eating is to ensure that you are eating enough balanced food throughout the day to avoid excessive hunger at night. No amount of emotional work or stress relief will help if you are in a state of starvation.

Ask yourself these pertinent questions. Questions help us to change our perspective and empower one to make the change.

 

 What does the night-time represent to me?

Am I bored?

Stressed? Exhausted and fatigued.

Black and white thinking, presence of triggering food (labelling food as good and bad, I ate this so I may as well go all out and binge)

Am I overwhelmed by the stuff all around me?

Triggering comments. Presence of triggering foods.

Any other contributing difficulties.

Asking yourselves the questions above will help you identify your real causes of binging. Remember that our body is clever and knows when we are undereating and restricting. The best thing you can do today is to follow a well-balanced diet, as often as possible.

 

Some Useful Tips in the light of Islam

 

Night Time Routine

 

No matter what the cause of your hunger, it’s important to break this habit, addiction/pattern.

Please do review your final meal of the day, is it balanced and the time you consume your meal.

Have your dinner by 8pm max and allow yourself 30 minutes before you perform your last prayer of the day, Isha. Don’t forget the saying of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) to delay this prayer. This night prayer is a gift for the Muslims and it was not given to any nation before.

Include fresh salad to your lunch and dinner with olive oil and lemon/vinegar dressing with a tsp of black seeds to get in your daily greens.

Include Yogurt at both times. Add turmeric and ginger during cooking.

Focus on your prayer and end your prayer with two extra raka of hajat, pray for your wellbeing and sound sleep.

Follow the etiquette of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) when going to sleep. Prepare your bed, take care of your night hygiene and before you go to sleep read night Quran. Sura Mulk, Sura Sajda.

 

Listen to the audio night Quran and have a glass of water before you go to sleep.

 

 

If you have trouble falling asleep, have a cup of camomile tea or a cup of milk. This helps. When I was in the Eating Disorder Unit, in our meal plan, we were encouraged to have night time snack, this prevents late night hunger pangs and helps you with your sleep.

The night time snack can be anything from a cup of camomile tea to banana to nuts. Ideally having a cup of milk with honey really helps. Honey is a Sunnah food from the kitchen of the Prophet Muhammad (saw).

Waking Up to Binge

 

When you wake up, it’s because of  one of the reasons we discussed above, from physical hunger to emotional reasons. Nevertheless, it’s your ingrained habit that is compelling you to get up and eat to deal with your emotional mind or your body’s clever way of telling you that it’s hungry and deficit in calories. A person wo had a stressful day, will reach for food without realising that they’ve had their meal and have completed their night time routine.

In Islam night is a blessed time to relax, sleep, and recharge yourself and to pray. Allah has blessed Muslims with a gift of night time prayer and then there’s a gift of extra prayer called Tahajud prayer. The majority of time, night time eating occurs is usually time of tahajud prayer, where a believer has a profound blessing to connect with Allah.

 

If you wake up post-midnight, don’t forget it’s a time for late night prayer, a very special time to pray and to ask Allah for anything. The prayer of tahajud doesn’t come easy and people struggle performing this prayer.

 

Before you head to kitchen, sit and think. Recite the maoz Teen and go and perform your wudu. Offer two raka of ghusl and offer your prayers. Ask Allah for anything.

Read Some Quran with meaning, reflect on the meaning. Sura Najm

Take 1TBSP of Black seed Oil either with a cup of Milk or a Glass of Water.

Follow your hunger cues and it’s very important to differ between a body and a mind binge. If you’ve been restricting all day then chances are your body is starved and deficit in the calories, and that’s why you are eating at night.

No Food is off limit but if you are in a trained habit to eat at the night, then chances are you are binging on high sugary, triggering foods, to break this chain, prepare some night time snacks and keep them in the fridge. The snacks below are good options due to their high nutritional value and these high melatonin properties. The following snacks will support not just a good sleep but will help you feel energized the following day. InshAllah this will take care of physical hunger and will soothe the emotional mind.

Oatmeal with nut milk

Bowl of yogurt

Cucumbers drizzled with olive oil, and lemon and zatar.

Bowl of Unsalted nuts

Glass of milk with 3-5 dates

Whole-wheat sandwich with cheese, cucumber/Egg sandwich/Mushrooms on toast.

Whole-wheat Oily fish sandwich with cream cheese

Humus with vegetables

Dark chocolate with nuts

Pineapple

Watermelon

Apple

 

 

 

I often study at night and I usually find that after mid night I am hungry. Apple sprinkled with cinnamon and yogurt infused with cumin is my ideal go to snack. A cup of milk with dates is also something I love.

MA: KHI

 

According to Coach Jen:

 

If a person experiences body binges, it can become a habit or part of a daily routine. Eventually, this leads to emotions and stress being handled with food, also known as ‘mind binges’.

Once a person has become accustomed to managing difficult situations or unpleasant feelings by eating, the habit of binge eating becomes even more difficult to break.

Another aspect that exacerbates this problem is the labelling of food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.  Once a food is labelled as bad or off-limits, the appeal and temptation to eat it increases exponentially. This increases the likelihood of using the food to rebel or take out anger and frustration.

 

 

Some Do’s and Don’ts

 

 

Don’ts

 

Don’t Skip Breakfast. When you habitually breakfast, your body will compensate for this malnourishment at night.

Don’t skip lunch and snacks

Don’t eat alone. A food shared is a food blessed.

Don’t eat foods deficit in calories.

Maintaining a balanced nutrition is must, once your body is nourished and not famished, night time binges less frequent to compensate for the deficiencies in calories.

Don’t use your Mobile Phone after 8pm

Don’t watch TV in bed

Don’t skip night prayer

Don’t have caffeine after 8pm

Don’t suppress your emotions after a difficult day. Speak to someone.

 

Do’s

 

A glass of water 10 minutes before a meal.

A small snack before a lunch to stabilize your sugar levels

A balanced breakfast to keep you energized throughout the day

A lunch to keep your energy levels up and to keep your hunger levels low. It also discourages you to eat at night, as your sugar levels are balanced and your body not famished.

Eat you dinner and make sure your dinner is balanced with protein, fats, carbs and fibre.

Night time hygiene routine-

Maintain a clean and dark environment

 

It takes forty days to break old habits and to form new habits. Break the old habits and form the new ones. Keep trying, no matter how many times you fall, keep rising. InshAllah soon you’ll be able to break the old habits and form new lifetime habits that will empower you to live a fulfilling, healthy life.