Nighttime eating... Am I alone?

[star444]

Most nights I wake up feeling a very strong urge to get up and eat something; and I have a difficult time getting back to sleep if I don't. I just finished a late night, or early morning, snack of: almonds (good) and a Cherry Coke (bad).

Am I alone in this nighttime eating behavior?

[kteague]

Back in the days before I was on CPAP and my sleep was messed up with OSA & limb movements, I did a lot of overnight eating. Sometimes would get out of bed and go cook something quick like eggs and toast. Once my sleep got a bit more normalized I felt less compelled to eat at odd times. In fact, once I COULD sleep, nothing in the kitchen was more enticing to me than sleep. I've read that sleep deprivation can cause dysfunction of the appetite hormones, and I figured that must have been what I was dealing with.

[49er]

Most nights I wake up feeling a very strong urge to get up and eat something; and I have a difficult time getting back to sleep if I don't. I just finished a late night, or early morning, snack of: almonds (good) and a Cherry Coke (bad).

Am I alone in this nighttime eating behavior?

Unfortunately, you aren't as I also have this issue. Believe it or not, I have found that eating Kale helps me get back to sleep although not always. Maybe try something like that?

By the way, how do you get back to sleep drinking a cherry choke since it has caffeine?

Not sure why this occurs as I have read different theories such as low blood sugar, metabolic issues, etc. In my situation, I expect it will improve once my pap therapy is straightened out. If not, I will have to investigate further.

Good luck.

49er

[kteague]

Just a little light reading...
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/lose ... e-sleeping
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535701/

[49er]

Just a little light reading...
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/lose ... e-sleeping
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535701/

LOL at the light reading comment.

That article is right on target as during the rare times, pap therapy worked, I remember not craving junk food and eating a real healthy diet. In my opinion, the only reason why my weight hasn't massively increased is I get a huge amount of exercise during the day.

I have pretty much given up on trying to eat healthy as I feel it is an exercise in futility right now. And actually by taking this philosophy, I am actually eating less junk food as I am less stressed about it.

49er

[borgready]

If you eat something, keep it small and easily digestible. Don't pig out and watch foods that pump up your sugar. I think the white soft bread is the easiest to set off a bad sugar rush that takes a while to go away. A few ounces of real juice (OJ or grapefruit with calcium added) give off enough sugar to put you to sleep with out sitting in your gut and pushing out the sugars that drive up the blood sugar real bad.

[zoocrewphoto]

By the way, how do you get back to sleep drinking a cherry choke since it has caffeine?


49er

I think caffeine doesn't affect some people much. I used to drink Mountain Dew all the time (I quit about 10 years ago). I would drink a pop right before bed and go to sleep just fine. This was long before I snored. I may have had some sleep apnea back then, but I don't think so. I slept short hours while in college, but I felt good energy and didn't feel like I had any sleep issues other than lack of hours in bed. Even when I drank pop while studying, I could fall asleep.

I did give up pop for 6 months. I did not sleep any better. By that time, I probably did have sleep apnea, but didn't know it yet. I had bathroom trips during the night, and people told me they would stop if I gave up the pop. They also said I would go to sleep earlier. That didn't change either. I finally realized I was getting dehydrated since I was drinking less and less water. I don't like flavored water, so it was bland and boring. I started drinking pop again, but not Mountain Dew. I started drinking orange pop. Still sugary, but no caffeine. I actually drink more water now than when I stopped drinking pop. I used to drink pop at breakfast, lunch, break, and then at home after work. Now, I drink water with breakfast, break, and part of the time at home. It is still plain, but if I keep it very cold, it tastes better.

Now, one time, I did take a primatene pill for my asthma. The dosage was 2 pills, but I took only one, thankfully. I was super jittery. I couldn't sit still. After shaking through one class, I went to the library and looked up the ingredients. Very close to caffeine. My heart was racing. I was exhausted, but unable to sleep for a day and a half. I never took one again. I can't imagine why people would take drugs like speed and want to feel like that. Years later, I mentioned it to my doctor, and she said that primatene was a horrible OTC medicine, and people had died from it. I am so glad I didn't take the 2 like the box said.

I have also found that I do not react the same way to many medications as most people do. For example, I needed something for my allergies. My doctor recommended clariton, zyrtec, and allegra. I did each one for 2 weeks at a time, no improvement. my doctor told me to try double the dosage. I gave each one another two weeks. no luck. She told me NOT to take chlortrimeton as it would make me sleepy. I asked the pharmacist what I could take since the 3 didn't work for me. He recommended the chlortrimeton, but not while working since it could make me sleepy. It works great and does NOT make me sleepy.

Cough medicine with codeine. Does Not make me sleepy. I was prescribed this for back pain once as I requested small pills or liquid. The nurse told me it would make me very sleepy. I waited for 5 hours, not sleepy, and no pain relief. I was stuck with an ice pack until the time I could take something else. I had better luck with plain tylenol. Years later, I was prescribed the codeine cough syrup for a bad cough. It worked great on the cough, but still didn't make me sleepy, so I was using it at work to keep that cough down.

When I had vertigo in 2011, I was told to take meclizine which is normally for motion sickness. I was told to continue taking it as I was going on a trip which involved hiking at heights, and that would be really bad to have vertigo come back when I am miles from the parking lot and still have to traverse odd terrain and edges. It has a known side effect of making people tired. It never slowed me down. I felt great, and it actually reduced my fear of heights. So, in some of the worst places, I took the dosage I had been given in the emergency room which was double the regular dosage.

So, things that should make me sleepy often do not, and things that usually help somebody stay away, don't often work on me either.

[49er]

Great points zoocrew. And like you, I seem to react different to meds just like my mother did. Must be a family gene.

And actually, after I wrote the comment about the cherry coke, I realized I have actually gotten back to sleep in the past after drinking coffee. It happens when I don't expect it so if I consciously do it, it won't work.

49er

By the way, how do you get back to sleep drinking a cherry choke since it has caffeine?


49er

I think caffeine doesn't affect some people much. I used to drink Mountain Dew all the time (I quit about 10 years ago). I would drink a pop right before bed and go to sleep just fine. This was long before I snored. I may have had some sleep apnea back then, but I don't think so. I slept short hours while in college, but I felt good energy and didn't feel like I had any sleep issues other than lack of hours in bed. Even when I drank pop while studying, I could fall asleep.

I did give up pop for 6 months. I did not sleep any better. By that time, I probably did have sleep apnea, but didn't know it yet. I had bathroom trips during the night, and people told me they would stop if I gave up the pop. They also said I would go to sleep earlier. That didn't change either. I finally realized I was getting dehydrated since I was drinking less and less water. I don't like flavored water, so it was bland and boring. I started drinking pop again, but not Mountain Dew. I started drinking orange pop. Still sugary, but no caffeine. I actually drink more water now than when I stopped drinking pop. I used to drink pop at breakfast, lunch, break, and then at home after work. Now, I drink water with breakfast, break, and part of the time at home. It is still plain, but if I keep it very cold, it tastes better.

Now, one time, I did take a primatene pill for my asthma. The dosage was 2 pills, but I took only one, thankfully. I was super jittery. I couldn't sit still. After shaking through one class, I went to the library and looked up the ingredients. Very close to caffeine. My heart was racing. I was exhausted, but unable to sleep for a day and a half. I never took one again. I can't imagine why people would take drugs like speed and want to feel like that. Years later, I mentioned it to my doctor, and she said that primatene was a horrible OTC medicine, and people had died from it. I am so glad I didn't take the 2 like the box said.

I have also found that I do not react the same way to many medications as most people do. For example, I needed something for my allergies. My doctor recommended clariton, zyrtec, and allegra. I did each one for 2 weeks at a time, no improvement. my doctor told me to try double the dosage. I gave each one another two weeks. no luck. She told me NOT to take chlortrimeton as it would make me sleepy. I asked the pharmacist what I could take since the 3 didn't work for me. He recommended the chlortrimeton, but not while working since it could make me sleepy. It works great and does NOT make me sleepy.

Cough medicine with codeine. Does Not make me sleepy. I was prescribed this for back pain once as I requested small pills or liquid. The nurse told me it would make me very sleepy. I waited for 5 hours, not sleepy, and no pain relief. I was stuck with an ice pack until the time I could take something else. I had better luck with plain tylenol. Years later, I was prescribed the codeine cough syrup for a bad cough. It worked great on the cough, but still didn't make me sleepy, so I was using it at work to keep that cough down.

When I had vertigo in 2011, I was told to take meclizine which is normally for motion sickness. I was told to continue taking it as I was going on a trip which involved hiking at heights, and that would be really bad to have vertigo come back when I am miles from the parking lot and still have to traverse odd terrain and edges. It has a known side effect of making people tired. It never slowed me down. I felt great, and it actually reduced my fear of heights. So, in some of the worst places, I took the dosage I had been given in the emergency room which was double the regular dosage.

So, things that should make me sleepy often do not, and things that usually help somebody stay away, don't often work on me either.

[knightlite]

My friend who also has diabetes had this trouble and the nutritionist told him to eat a graham cracker with peanut butter before bedtime to get him thru the night and level out out his blood sugar . I guess this takes awhile to digest so it takes the low spike out during the night. It worked for him .
As for soft drinks, diet or not they are poison , I blame diet drinks as the leading cause of my type 2 diabetes. There are medical warnings about this now. I fell into the trap of them being harmless because there were no calories. I now only drink water and hot tea the last ten years. . Rarely anything else, occasionally orange juice with certain medications and some skim milk at times. No artificial sweeteners ever.
I bet others have a trick or two to get them thru the night , I would like to hear some of them. I'm sure not everyone can use the same fix as our systems are so complex from person to person . But that's why we use the glucose meters to see what works or not .
This is only for sharing- not medical advice. ymmv

[digitalepiphany]

Cortisol levels rise in response to sleep apnea. Rising cortisol levels result in rising insulin levels. Other than regulating blood sugar levels, insulin also drives fat storage (meaning fat is not available as an energy source.

People that do not have metabolic syndrome or diabetes mellitus (and that don't have OSA) are able to burn fat for energy throughout the night because their insulin levels are low. This is done by freeing the fatty acids from the glycerol backbones, and converting them into ketone bodies, which can be used by every cell in the body. The glycerol backbones, and some of the fatty acids, can be converted in the liver to glucose, in a process known as gluconeogenesis. This is only done as your body needs it, but if you have elevated insulin levels, none of this happens.

Also keep in mind that dietary glucose is a fast energy source, meaning that your body either uses it right away, stores it, or converts it to fat in the liver.

If you are overweight, you most likely have some level of insulin resistance, which means that your pancreatic beta cells are overproducing insulin. This will keep you from utilizing fat stores as energy while asleep.

The only way to correct this problem is to reduce your sugar intake, as well as you overall carbohydrate intake.

[star444]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!

[Sir NoddinOff]

Jumping back to 49er suggesting eating kale at night to sleep better. Kale is high in magnesium which is often recommended for calming the nervous system and especially one's heart rhythms. Ever hear of grandma taking hot epsom salt baths? Epsom salts are concentrated mineral magnesium which helps relax her old bones and soothe her mood for bedtime. It can work for you too. However, there's an easier way to get magnesium into your body by using magnesium oil sprayed on your legs... it works pretty good but not right before bedtime IMO. I find the late afternoon is the best time of application. You can spray it on you arms or chest if that is more convenient. BTW, it's not really oily, it feels that way temporarily on application.

Here's a link... I use it a lot and it seems to help relax me. Two spritzes on each leg works nicely:
http://www.amazon.com/Life-flo-Pure-Mag ... lmf_tit_20

[Goofproof]

My lifestyle is not the norm, I go to bed at 3 to 4 am, after eating a cup of hot chile extra hot red pepper, 3 crackers and a ice cream bar, I use about 60 units of insulin, mixed 2 kinds, to get me thru the night. Usually that works for me, sometimes the insulin overacts, that wakes me and I have to make emergency corrections, after they kick in, I go back to sleep.

Screwy Right! Jim

But it works for me.

[ems]

My lifestyle is not the norm, I go to bed at 3 to 4 am, after eating a cup of hot chile extra hot red pepper, 3 crackers and a ice cream bar, I use about 60 units of insulin, mixed 2 kinds, to get me thru the night. Usually that works for me, sometimes the insulin overacts, that wakes me and I have to make emergency corrections, after they kick in, I go back to sleep.

Screwy Right! Jim

But it works for me.

If I ate a cup of hot chile and ice cream before I went to bed, between heartburn and gerd I'd be up all nite.

[John from Brookston]

Most nights I wake up feeling a very strong urge to get up and eat something; and I have a difficult time getting back to sleep if I don't. I just finished a late night, or early morning, snack of: almonds (good) and a Cherry Coke (bad).

Am I alone in this nighttime eating behavior?

Nope, I just had a frozen burrito and it's almost 2. If I go to bed w/a BG lower than about 160, I'll have a hypoglycemic crash before wakey time, and those are no fun. I wake up drenched in sweat, shaking, and so befuddled I have to yell "GO GET SOMETHING TO EAT NOW!" to get me up, I guess otherwise I'd just lay there and drift away...
So yeah, I eat at night.
BG is 157. Some gummi bears and I should be good to go...