What is NES?
Night eating syndrome (NES) is an eating disorder that occurs along with interrupted sleep (insomnia). NES causes people to wake up during the night to eat, usually several times throughout the night. Untreated, NES makes it difficult to maintain a healthy weight. It also increases the risk of health problems like diabetes and high blood pressure.
If you have NES, you may feel like you won’t be able to fall asleep if you don’t eat. You might feel as if you have no control over your urge to eat in the middle of the night. Many people with NES also have depression or anxiety that is often worse at night.
To help people with NES, healthcare providers usually recommend a combination of treatments. These include antidepressant medications, cognitive behavioral therapy and techniques to correct the sleeping and eating cycle.
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How common is NES?
About one in 100 people have NES. Night eating syndrome is more common among people who:
- Carry extra weight or have obesity.
- Have depression or anxiety.
- Abuse drugs or alcohol.
- Have another eating disorder, such as bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder.
What is the difference between NES and sleep-related eating disorder (SRED)?
NES is not a type of sleepwalking or other abnormal sleep behavior (parasomnia). It’s different from sleep-related eating disorder (SRED) because people who have NES are fully awake while eating.
People with NES remember waking and eating during the night. But people with SRED eat while they’re asleep and have no memory of it the next day.
