It's almost like I'm sleepwalking. I thought it was just a bad habit. But for millions estimated to suffer from this problem, finally hope that it's not all in their head. A breakthrough study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, shows there could actually be a medical reason for all those uncontrollable urges to snack at night. These symptoms can be very distressing.
Researchers call it night eating syndrome.
The basic goal of our study is to define and characterize the disorder. Using a motion sensor, doctors are now tracking how many times people with this problem get up at night to eat, and through a series of tests, they've made an unexpected discovery. Your biological clock is set backwards 3 or 4 hours. Hormones that help you sleep and guard against over-eating normally rise when you go to bed. But in night eating syndrome, researchers found those hormones don't rise at all.