Night cravings: How dangerous midnight snacks really are?

Some of us just can’t help themselves: The Hunger rips you from sleep and drives you to the refrigerator. This is a serious disorder or just a bad habit?

The need to clarify the research – but science has already given it a name: The Night-Eating syndrome or, in short, NES cravings referred to attacks during the night, interrupting sleep.

Trick our hormones to midnight snack?

The causes are, ultimately, still unclear. However, some studies suggest that our hormones play a role. Previous findings show that data is significantly lower melatonin values – the hormone that ensures deep and uninterrupted sleep.

Often this defect is accompanied by a low value of the hormone Leptin, which is for our sense of satiety is responsible: In this Interaction, it comes increasingly to night-time cravings.

In addition, these factors disturb sleep

In addition to hormonal imbalances, there are other possible causes: Stress, noise, and other factors can lead to insufficient sleep quality.

Too late, intense Workouts leave the body hard to come to rest, and encourage nighttime appetite seizures.

Health risks for sleep disorders

Sleep is in the normal case, the physiological state of Recovery of the body. That means that Now, all of the regeneration processes. Between one and four PM, our organs run at full speed, above all the liver.

You will be woken up because of Hunger and to satisfy it, the metabolism out of sync. A disruption of our internal clock may have a weakened immune system, susceptibility to infections, allergies as well as discomfort.

Regular night snacks make you fat

It is true, of course: Sometimes at night snacking makes neither fat nor sick. It becomes problematic only when it develops to a permanent condition.

“The body is capable of, rarely occurring irregularities in the food intake or the sleep-Wake rhythm in balance.

It becomes dangerous when it comes to permanent disturbances and the internal clock including metabolic changes in the long term.

Obesity is favoured and may even result in metabolic diseases such as type II Diabetes,“ says Sabrina Maaßen, diploma-Trophologin in the Klinikum Passau, Germany.

For the figure of the nocturnal eating is especially harmful when the midnight calories on top. Especially when it comes to high-calorie food.

Who makes up at night because he eats during the day, hardly impacted his overall calorie balance. Healthier, however, would be a regular eating before sunset.

What to do against the late Hunger?

Stefanie Naumann

*The contribution of “Night-time cravings: How dangerous midnight snacks really are?” comes from FitForFun. There is no editorial review by FOCUS Online. Contact with the executives here.