Can you sleep while hungry?
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amusedmonkey wrote: »I have no issues at all falling asleep when I'm hungry. In fact, I'm more chill about being hungry at night because "I'll just sleep it off soon". I also don't like eating after sundown (no reason, just feels weird), so sometimes I do get hungry at night. I'm usually a good sleeper. I feel sleepy, head on the pillow, asleep within 5 minutes no matter what (unless it's too hot, that's the only thing that affects my ability to fall asleep). I don't do the "thinking in bed" thing, I just close my eyes and drift away and rarely wake up until morning. I do have a problem falling asleep if I try to go to bed before I feel sleepy, but that's not because of hunger, it's because I can't make myself sleep if I don't feel it.
So jealous! I wish I knew how not to do the whole thinking in bed thing! Somehow, my brain wants to do all the thinking and reflecting on my life choices when I'm in bed!
This is why I need to create soothing scenarios in my head to distract me from actual thinking. If I wake up during the night the same thing can happen. Which is really frustrating because I waste so much time in bed trying to fall asleep. I may go to bed at 11 and and wake up at 10 and only get like 6-7 hours of actual sleep...*sigh* 2 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »I have no issues at all falling asleep when I'm hungry. In fact, I'm more chill about being hungry at night because "I'll just sleep it off soon". I also don't like eating after sundown (no reason, just feels weird), so sometimes I do get hungry at night. I'm usually a good sleeper. I feel sleepy, head on the pillow, asleep within 5 minutes no matter what (unless it's too hot, that's the only thing that affects my ability to fall asleep). I don't do the "thinking in bed" thing, I just close my eyes and drift away and rarely wake up until morning. I do have a problem falling asleep if I try to go to bed before I feel sleepy, but that's not because of hunger, it's because I can't make myself sleep if I don't feel it.
So jealous! I wish I knew how not to do the whole thinking in bed thing! Somehow, my brain wants to do all the thinking and reflecting on my life choices when I'm in bed! This is why I need to create soothing scenarios in my head to distract me from actual thinking. If I wake up during the night the same thing can happen. Which is really frustrating because I waste so much time in bed trying to fall asleep. I may go to bed at 11 and and wake up at 10 and only get like 6-7 hours of actual sleep...*sigh*
I usually have my pc on a 30 minute timer to auto shut down and listen to youtube videos when I go to sleep. More often than not I fall asleep before a typical video finishes. Maybe that's one reason I don't do much thinking in bed? Who knows.2 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »I usually have my pc on a 30 minute timer to auto shut down and listen to youtube videos when I go to sleep. More often than not I fall asleep before a typical video finishes. Maybe that's one reason I don't do much thinking in bed? Who knows.
I have a friend who does that! And it blows my mind, too, to be honest, because I can never fall asleep with even the slightest noise or light.
On a side note, it's crazy how something seemingly unrelated to weight or food can make weight loss so much harder. I honestly believe that I'd be in a completely different situation weight-wise if I could sleep better.0 -
On probably 95% of nights I'm asleep within a minute of my head hitting the pillow. My last food is typically 3-4 hours before I go to sleep.1
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I use a few little sleep tricks but one of the most effective I've found lately is to use a sleep mask. Several months ago, I was starting to sleep, wake, sleep, wake, sleep, wake through the night which isn't like me at all. Stress getting to me. Plus I noticed that my eyes were very dry and red in the morning and I had huge bags under them. I wondered if I might be sleeping with my eyes slightly open and it turns out that is a thing.
So I got a sleep mask and what a difference. I'm back to my usual thing of falling asleep within minutes, I sleep deeply, and most of the time I wake up with normal looking eyes.
I like it ... a nice, comfortable, non-medicated way to get a better sleep. 4 -
Most of the time I can fall asleep just about anywhere and anytime. I've dozed off standing up against a wall in an airport ... in the middle of class ... on a gravel road after many, many, many hours of cycling ...
On a normal night, I'm usually out within 5 minutes of putting my head on the pillow, usually within about 2-3 minutes. In fact if I'm not asleep after about 7 or 8 minutes, I'm wondering what's wrong.
So yes, I can fall asleep when hungry.
However, that said, my last snack is usually about 11 pm and I go to bed somewhere between 12:30 and 1 am. I don't like feeling hungry when I'm trying to finish something important during the time I have the most energy late in the evening.
You have no idea how jealous I am of you! I don't think I ever "dozed off" in my life past the age of 5 without actually trying to fall asleep.
And it only takes you 5 minutes? Wow... I have to create eleborate scenarios in my head to distract myself from the fact that I am actually trying to fall asleep and it can take a while, an hour or two easily, during which I usually get progressively hungry and need to get up to have a snack and then try again...
Don't remember the last time I slept through the night without waking up at least once either...
I don't sleep through the night. My bladder makes sure I get up once or twice.
But I'm back asleep again within about 30 seconds after those trips. I can usually remember my head on the pillow and I'm out.
A few times in my life, I've fallen asleep at some point moments before I lie down. I remember sitting down on the edge of bed ... next thing I know hours have passed, I'm in bed, and I feel like I haven't moved in a while.
Just had my last lecture for my current unit at uni today and yep ... nodded off for a moment or two ... even though I was hungry in there.
I'm just that tired!!
Have you tried exercising in the evening and then eating a small snack right before bed? That seems to work for me.
I also take a calcium and magnesium before bed ... I've read somewhere magnesium is supposed to help a person sleep.
Yeah, part of the reason why I get up at night is to pee, too. This is why drinking herbal tea and such to curb the hunger before bed is not a very good idea...
But yeah, I do all of those things, I take magnesium, exercise a lot and usually in the evening, have my dinner around 9-10pm, often followed by a snack right before bed and still often end up feeling hungry again while trying to fall asleep or when I wake up at night. I wasn't even in deficit yesterday. And woke at 4 and at 6 with almost painful hunger pangs.... But I think, there's something wrong with me, something that the doctors haven't figured out. Something hormonal most likely. Because I wasn't always like this.
I can't sleep hungry either.
Sleep has always been challenging for me, and has gotten worse since I became perimenopausal. At 31, that's not likely the issue for you though.
Depending on where you live, there may be something you can eat before bed that will be super-helpful getting a good night's sleep (but not very filling as one just eats tiny amounts.)
Sounds like you already know all about sleep hygiene, but I will post this here for others http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/getting/overcoming/tips
I have to stop drinking liquids BEFORE dinner - I can just have a swallow or two with dinner.2 -
Have you been checked for ulcers or GERD?
Yeah, I've been actually thinking to ask my doctor to check for this. I've had gastritis as a teenager but it was gone by the time I was 19 or so. And I haven't had any pains since, aside from an occasional ingestion. The hunger pains I'm talking about are almost painful but not quite. However the fact that they often come 1-2hours after the meals and at night does sound like an ulcer...In all this has anyone established your current height, weight, and deficit level? Are you losing, gaining, maintaining? if losing or gaining, at what rate? Did you have a recent weight loss or long period in deficit?
Over how much time and what was the weight change?
Ok, so it's a bit off-topic and I've started a lot of discussion here on this issue already. But I'm 31 y/o, female, 5'2'', currently 140lbs, I' m very active, average TDEE 2000-2100 cals (I know this to be pretty exact from years of tracking my weight and intake on different spreadsheets). I am currently eating at maintenance when I can or in surplus quite often due to the excess hunger. Can't maintain even a small (200-400cals) deficit for more than a couple of days. My usual macros are around 40c/30p/30f, but I tried other percentages before. I eat very healthy, too (lots of fiber, fresh fruit and veggies and healthy fats).
Last year I was able to veeery slowly lose some weight and when from 135 to 126lbs over the course of year or so. I had these hungry days even back then but it was only 30-40% of the time each month so I was still able to have a deficit the rest of the time and undo the surplus from the hungry days. But since May I feel like this 95% now. Since then I've been eating mostly in surplus due to the hunger, which made me gain 15lbs (exactly as expected from the surplus I had). I may have a day or two (usually just a few hours though) every now and then when suddenly I have a normal amount of hunger again. Outside of it I'm pretty much always have this nagging hollow uncomfortable sensation in my stomach, which subsides a little after eating but not for long.
I was tested by my doctor for the obvious things (diabetes and thyroid hormones) which came back negative and since I'm gaining weight rather then losing and don't have any other symptoms, she started hinting I'm imagining it or that it's just stress etc. I've been suspecting it's something related to sex hormones (since the non-stop hunger came 5 months after I went off oral contraceptives together with some changes with my skin). But it's been so long already with no improvement, so I don't know what to think anymore. I don't blame my doctor for not knowing either since increased hunger is not really a symptom for that many issues... The very rare days of normal hunger levels that I get remind me what normal feels like and that I'm not imagining it...
Earlier I talked about how going to bed hungry didn't bother me, but I have also occasionally experienced that gnawing hunger that keeps you from sleeping, (such as you describe), and I strongly suspect that it is gastritis in my case. I'm suspicious because a gastroenterologist told me he saw evidence of past ulcers (in the form of polyps) in my stomach a few years ago, and we have a strong family history of them. It was here, on MFP, in a thread where night time extreme hunger and gastritis were put together by someone that it first occurred to me that it was likely to be my problem too. It just happened a couple of weeks ago again and I "solved" it by eating. I solved it the same way previously but at least now I don't feel guilty about it. It's a pretty rare event for me, so I haven't consulted a doctor. But next time I'm in to see him, I think I'm going to mention it.
Coincidentally, today I felt annoyingly hungry and decided to eat to address it. Reading your post, I had the epiphany that it doesn't just have to be at night to be gastritis.
I'm not keen on going on PPI's, not so much because of the new studies pointing out risks to PPI's, but because of other issues I have, however they were a big help to other family members.
I hope your doctor has a solution for you.
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goldthistime wrote: »Earlier I talked about how going to bed hungry didn't bother me, but I have also occasionally experienced that gnawing hunger that keeps you from sleeping, (such as you describe), and I strongly suspect that it is gastritis in my case. I'm suspicious because a gastroenterologist told me he saw evidence of past ulcers (in the form of polyps) in my stomach a few years ago, and we have a strong family history of them. It was here, on MFP, in a thread where night time extreme hunger and gastritis were put together by someone that it first occurred to me that it was likely to be my problem too. It just happened a couple of weeks ago again and I "solved" it by eating. I solved it the same way previously but at least now I don't feel guilty about it. It's a pretty rare event for me, so I haven't consulted a doctor. But next time I'm in to see him, I think I'm going to mention it.
Coincidentally, today I felt annoyingly hungry and decided to eat to address it. Reading your post, I had the epiphany that it doesn't just have to be at night to be gastritis.
I'm not keen on going on PPI's, not so much because of the new studies pointing out risks to PPI's, but because of other issues I have, however they were a big help to other family members.
I hope your doctor has a solution for you.
Hmm, this is interesting. Yeah, in my case it isn't just at night. It's most of the time... it subsides a little after meals and then 1-2hours after a meal it's back. It's really frustrating because I can feel that there's still food in my stomach, and yet I feel this hollow gnawing sensation which one usually feels when one haven't eaten for many hours. I also don't get the "satisfied" feeling after meals, like I need before. Before even in a deficit after a 400-500 meal I'd feel satisfied at least for a couple of hours. Not it always feels like I haven't eaten enough.... even after a 1000 calories...
What you say, definitely made me want to insist that my doctor check me for gastritis/ulcer. What makes me doubt it's that though is the fact that exercise and deficit definitely increase the intensity of the sensation...0 -
Sorry no tips because I am exactly the same. I don't sleep amazing when I'm not on a deficit, need sleep meds and usually wake up in the middle of the night for a while. But when I'm on a deficit I barely sleep sometimes and wake up starving at night if it is even a 250 cal deficit. Even timing my eating close to bedtime and eating lots of protein and veggies and fiber. I don't understand how people can maintain 500 calories or more deficit for months on end. I can do a few days at a time and then need to eat at maintenance to just make the hunger stop.
I also wonder if my maintenance is actually higher than the calculators because I lose weight easily if I can stick to it. Maybe what I think is a 250 calorie deficit is more of a 750 calorie deficit.0 -
I have exact same problem, eve/night eating is my worst problem (and I have insomnia issues to begin with). Don't laugh, but the solution I found that works... I bought locks for my fridge and pantry and my husband puts them on after dinner. If it's not an option, it doesn't seem to bother me and I forget about it.
I used a flexible, coil type luggage lock on my fridge (actual fridge locks look like they could damage the fridge and parts of it is fixed there all the time, too embarrassing if I had company). I use a door nob cover lock on my pantry (it opens like a normal door). It looks like the locks real estate agents have on homes they are showing.
I know it sounds extreme but it has been working for me and I am finding just breaking the habit has helped too.1 -
Sorry no tips because I am exactly the same. I don't sleep amazing when I'm not on a deficit, need sleep meds and usually wake up in the middle of the night for a while. But when I'm on a deficit I barely sleep sometimes and wake up starving at night if it is even a 250 cal deficit. Even timing my eating close to bedtime and eating lots of protein and veggies and fiber. I don't understand how people can maintain 500 calories or more deficit for months on end. I can do a few days at a time and then need to eat at maintenance to just make the hunger stop.
I also wonder if my maintenance is actually higher than the calculators because I lose weight easily if I can stick to it. Maybe what I think is a 250 calorie deficit is more of a 750 calorie deficit.
Yeah, I'm not sure either how people maintain a high deficit for so long. I know it's supposed to be easier when you have a higher BMI, so an obese person would be able to maintain a 500-1000 deficit much easier than a slightly overweight/normal weight person would. But still. From what I understand a 250 deficit is supposed to be very easily maintainable, even at a lower weight.
It is not my case, but it's very possible that you are underestimating your TDEE. A lot of people don't realize how much NEAT they are doing. Back in the day I thought my TDEE was about 1600-1800cals but when I got a fitbit it turned out I was burning over 2k every day, often times 2500 or even over. And it was later confirmed by tracking my weight changes.0 -
Nope. I may fall asleep but if I am really hungry I will wake up and not be able to return to sleep without eating something. Yes, If I am hungry I eat. I do not care what time it is.0
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No here can diagnose any medical condition but I had this same problem hit me when I was in my early 20's. I went to the doctor and they told me it was a symptom of what was to come later on. T2. Ayup. I didn't believe it then but the abby normal hunger hormones out of whack continued. Then T2 showed up on my doorstep. I wish I would have listened but I was too scared and threw that report/office visit into the back of the file cabinet. I took it back out this year and read the remarks.
You're still young and you can do everything differently than I did. You can avoid it by staying the course and it may mean you have to gut the hunger out in the evenings. I have to. Every night, ole ghrelin blowback hits me around 8 pm until 10 pm. Come the morning, it's gone. I track my food and data points here, watch everything like a hawk. My numbers are good now but it took 3 years to arrive at this point. Prevention is always better than the cure. Abnormal hunger, always hungry is a sign and few doctors will tell you that. I should've listened.0 -
Diatonic12 wrote: »No here can diagnose any medical condition but I had this same problem hit me when I was in my early 20's. I went to the doctor and they told me it was a symptom of what was to come later on. T2. Ayup. I didn't believe it then but the abby normal hunger hormones out of whack continued. Then T2 showed up on my doorstep. I wish I would have listened but I was too scared and threw that report/office visit into the back of the file cabinet. I took it back out this year and read the remarks.
You're still young and you can do everything differently than I did. You can avoid it by staying the course and it may mean you have to gut the hunger out in the evenings. I have to. Every night, ole ghrelin blowback hits me around 8 pm until 10 pm. Come the morning, it's gone. I track my food and data points here, watch everything like a hawk. My numbers are good now but it took 3 years to arrive at this point. Prevention is always better than the cure. Abnormal hunger, always hungry is a sign and few doctors will tell you that. I should've listened.
Wait, what is T2? It doesn't sound like you're talking about the thyroid hormone... What should I insist my doctor check me for?
EDIT: Are you talking about type 2 diabetes? hmmm I really don't seem to be in a risk group, from what I understand. I'm barely overweight (and that's a very recent thing 'çause by the hunger not the other way around, the hunger started when I was a normal weight) I'm very active, eat very healthy, practically no refined sugars, moderate carbs. No diabetes history in the family either... And from what I understand, the tests didn't confirm it either...0 -
T2 diabetes. I didn't have it my 20's either but it did show up. I can't even remember the last time I've had normal hunger cues. I don't remember them in childhood. I have always been hungry. I can eat Thanksgiving and be hungry. Abnormal hunger, excessive hunger is a symptom of T2. Some things can take 10 years before they show up on your doorstep. My numbers were good but I remember my doctor looking at my stomach and talking directly to me, looking me straight in the eye. It scared me and I blew him off. Big mistake.
Abnormal hunger cues drove to me eat the foods and crave the foods that are the most highly efficient for stacking weight on like a freight train. I wanted to eat nothing but HFCS. High fructose corn syrup. I stacked 100 lbs on and I did it all with gummy bears. All I wanted to eat was sugar in the form of corn syrup. I felt so horrible.
I faced the music in 2014, lost all of that weight and ate it all back again with gummy bears in 2015 in just a few short months. I went to the doctor and I said doctor, what in the hail is going on. I had T2. I joined MFP in 2016 and I've been on this road to recovery ever since.
Sometimes, in the evening the cravings for HFCS are so strong that I have to throw everything up against the wall and hope for something to stick. I surf the urges and I gut it out. You'd have to know what this feels like to understand. My hunger cues went by the way of the dodo a long time ago. I don't think they were even there at birth.
My doctor told me that we really are what we eat and what our mother ate. My mother lived on chocolate milk and cinnamon rolls and black licorice. It had an effect on me, you'd better believe it. But I'm still here, standing in one piece. None of this has been easy but there's only choices and consequences. Come hail or high water I will not be deterred. My cousin just had his leg amputated. I know the consequences first hand.3 -
I can sleep well while hungry but it does mean I have a higher likelihood to dream about frosting.4
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I used to be unable to fall asleep when hungry, but that was at a time when I basically ate every time I felt hungry. My regime now is 16:8 intermittent fasting, and as part of getting used to that I had to deal with hunger in the fasting period. My approach then was to have a mug of green tea when feeling hungry and promise myself that if I still felt hungry half an hour later I would allow myself a snack. Mostly the hunger had gone and I'd forgotten about it. The big benefit to me was to realise that the unpleasant feeling of hunger would go away. The fear of the feeling staying and getting worse and worse until I ate was just a fear, not an actuality.
I am now able to ignore feelings of hunger. It's not true hunger anyway - it's feeling peckish. Therefore I am quite capable of going to bed feeling hungry, ignoring it, and falling asleep quite happily.1 -
If I'm hungry then no I can't sleep. Also if I feel hunger around bedtime, I just simply eat before bed0
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Dont usually comment on these threads but was interested as I suffered from this issue for about around 4 years, luckily no more! I was hovering at around a BMI of 25 and led a very active life. I considered everything from macros to Night Eating Syndrome, all my blood results came up normal and I was just totally confused. Then gradually things changed.
It starting with improving my eating patterns (whilst eating the same amount during the day), things also altered when I moved house and relaxed more in life, but to tell you the truth I cant point to anything exact that made the difference. At first there was a couple of nights of not feeling the hunger and waking, then it only happening once a week, then only a few times a month when I under ate and now its not a problem. I now maintain without the hunger at a weight around 20lbs lower.
I think what caused the night hunger for me was having been very ill and unable to eat properly for over a year (a year or so previous to the problem popping up). I was just surprised how long (years) it took my body to fix itself! Don't know if anything from this sounds familiar but hope it helps. Time, self forgiveness and relaxation is what i'd advise.3 -
squidgybunny_276 wrote: »Dont usually comment on these threads but was interested as I suffered from this issue for about around 4 years, luckily no more! I was hovering at around a BMI of 25 and led a very active life. I considered everything from macros to Night Eating Syndrome, all my blood results came up normal and I was just totally confused. Then gradually things changed.
It starting with improving my eating patterns (whilst eating the same amount during the day), things also altered when I moved house and relaxed more in life, but to tell you the truth I cant point to anything exact that made the difference. At first there was a couple of nights of not feeling the hunger and waking, then it only happening once a week, then only a few times a month when I under ate and now its not a problem. I now maintain without the hunger at a weight around 20lbs lower.
I think what caused the night hunger for me was having been very ill and unable to eat properly for over a year (a year or so previous to the problem popping up). I was just surprised how long (years) it took my body to fix itself! Don't know if anything from this sounds familiar but hope it helps. Time, self forgiveness and relaxation is what i'd advise.
Thank you for sharing your experience! The fact that it passed in your case gives me hope. I also think that habit does play a role, so yes stabilising eating patterns should help. I also think that maybe I should start trying more to do something about my sleep first.0
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