Anyone else sleep eat?

So I did great yesterday and then at 330am I woke up with a cookie in my mouth! I had to go down stairs, ga cookie, go back upstairs and eat it! I am thinking it is my body craving the sugar but my wife says this is not the first time :explode: anyone else do anything like this?

Replies

  • Afraid so, but very embarassing to admit it tho. Didn't think anyone else was "in my boat". Wish I knew why & what to do about it. I just know that I do the same as when I am awake & that is choose the most unhealthy things,UGH
  • Evette7
    Evette7 Posts: 156 Member
    Me tooooooooo! Nutella seems to be my ultimate weakness! Nutella and chocolate. I don't know anyone else that does this and I have absolutely no idea what to do about it. :-( have you ever tried to do any research on it?
  • caritiger
    caritiger Posts: 82 Member
    There is a book called "Born Round" that tells of the author's struggles with weight. He reported that sometimes he would wake up and find his kitchen in a mess, though he lived alone. He realized after taking a look around at his cabinets and pantry he had, in his sleep, cooked an entire meal of pasta and sauce and consumed it!
  • Omgosh yes I did this for almost a week. I had never done this before! I would get up around 2am & go grab a handful of cheezits. I think my body was craving/needing more food though because it was right around the time when I was doing a lot of exercise and hadnt up'd my calorie intake.
  • zombie_meg
    zombie_meg Posts: 149 Member
    I first started doing this when I was pregnant. I had gestational diabetes and wanted nothing more than to have some chocolate milk. One morning I woke up to a glass with chocolate residue at the bottom by my bed and the chocolate syrup on the counter. I went and got myself a piece of cake in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. The bowl I put it in was by my bed.
  • adamb83
    adamb83 Posts: 719 Member
    My mother actually has this problem - she will get up, go to the kitchen make herself food (literally make a sandwich or cook something in the microwave), eat it, and go back to bed. She doesn't remember any of it the next day. I'm pretty sure it's a valid psychological condition, like sleep walking.
  • AmyJo54915
    AmyJo54915 Posts: 103
    I used to have this problem when I took ambien. I would make a meal, or usually eat something sweet, and not realize it until I woke up in the morning and saw my kitchen. I went off the ambien a while back and haven't had that problem since (Whew!)
  • Denjo060
    Denjo060 Posts: 1,008
    i do once in a while but I noticed its if I dont eat dinner Friday night I fell asleep on the couch and woke up and had two peanut butter sandwiches on aronold thins and a hard boiled egg I knew I was doing it but before I had the change to stop myself I had woofed down all that in about10 minutes :blushing: :sad: :explode:
  • rachelblank427
    rachelblank427 Posts: 180 Member
    I do it. I did it alllllloooottttt for a while. Everynight for at least two months. I'm starting to get it under control now. I'm down to about once a week now.
  • Thaedra
    Thaedra Posts: 52
    I have been a sleep eater since I was a teenager, and it usually surfaces when I have been seriously cutting calories. Sometimes I remember in the morning, sometimes I just find evidence. Once I woke up to discover I was sitting in my bed eating ice cream out of the carton with a fork. Another time I guess I actually pulled a chair up to the refrigerator and was eating lasagne out of it with my bare hands. (My then boyfriend, now husband told me the next day. I had made him the lasagne for his birthday. You know it's true love when someone sticks around after that! :)
    So no, you're not alone. It sure is frustrating isn't it???
  • lstnlondry
    lstnlondry Posts: 1,794 Member
    Guilty
  • yep-I usually wake up with food in my bed!! no memory of getting it!
  • sharleengc
    sharleengc Posts: 792 Member
    My college roommate was a sleep eater. She didn't make meals but I think she would have if he had any cooking appliances! She'd get cereal, chips or anything else that she had in the room
  • tinattinat
    tinattinat Posts: 56 Member
    I used to have this problem when I took ambien. I would make a meal, or usually eat something sweet, and not realize it until I woke up in the morning and saw my kitchen. I went off the ambien a while back and haven't had that problem since (Whew!)

    Same thing happened to me when I had to ambien! Didn't know I had been up eating cereal during the night till the next morning and there is the bowl with a tiny bit of milk in it and the (still) opened box of cereal next to it...... :noway:
  • umachanxo
    umachanxo Posts: 926 Member
    Sometimes I get cravings for buttery twisty bread, hamburgers, cheesy pasta, chocolate, cookies, etc. I have a hard time, especially around TOM. Late night snacking is an issue with me too.
  • mjhedgehog
    mjhedgehog Posts: 249 Member
    I don't take any medication and this happened to me! I work up at 4 in the morning and ate 2 russell stovers coconut cream eggs. lol
  • rileamoyer
    rileamoyer Posts: 2,412 Member
    No but my DH sleep cooked when he took some Ambian - needless to say, that was off his meds list right away, too dangerous.
  • Quasita
    Quasita Posts: 1,530 Member
    If you have a history of sleepwalking, it's probably related, though if it recently surfaced, I would suggest that you eat something with a longer sustainability before going to bed.

    When I first started trying to manipulate my calories on here, and increased to eating every 2 hours, my body literally woke me up to make food because I was that hungry. You have to keep in mind your habits, and adjust to eating for them over the time you sleep. I know some people that keep fruit, peanut butter, crackers... such things... by the bed for those moments.

    Just remember, it's not terrible to eat before you go to bed, as long as you don't cause yourself heartburn.

    Another work around could be keeping small snacks in the room so if you say, get up to go to the bathroom, you have a little snack when you do.

    Me, I am a sleep walker and talker and it arises with stress more than anything. Last week, my BodyMedia showed a couple nights where I didn't sleep more than 30% of the night. That worried me because I didn't know if I was walking around, or just moving. When I notice these things, though, I make sure to lock doors before going to bed.
  • kuunsilta
    kuunsilta Posts: 126 Member
    Oh my gosh, I've never heard of this before. I hope that I have never done that O_O
  • TrishJimenez
    TrishJimenez Posts: 561 Member
    yep-I usually wake up with food in my bed!! no memory of getting it!

    this might be why you are not hungry for breakfast. I am also a sleep eater. I have to try and use "detective work" to log the calories I ate at night. Last night it was pbj 3 TIMES at half a sandwich each time. And I HATE peanut butter. Have since I was a kid. Anyways, sometimes it is frustrating when it adds up to 500+ calories. It can take a chuck out of my day. I wish calories you consumed while sleeping didnt count lol. I have also eaten icecream with a fork in bed. Sometimes I wake up with a crust of a sandwich on my pillow and peanut butter all over my face. One solution I have found to work for me sometimes is to keep low calorie snacks available and try to avoid keeping things that I gravitate to while sleeping, like high fat, hi calorie hi carb foods. I have found fat free sugar free pudding works, as does easy to chew protein bars, fat free yogurt (that works cuz it would take 5 yogurts to equal the peanut butter sandwiches I ate last night) And in answer to someone elses post if it is cronic over a life time like it is for me and some other people it is a disorder a long the lines sleep walking. Especially when you dont remember even doing it. or you eat things that you dont even like or hate. Some people have it so bad they even eat stuff that is not even food.
  • Leiki
    Leiki Posts: 526 Member
    There is a simple solution: use a combination lock for all the food items you do not want to be sleep eating.
  • honestlysweet
    honestlysweet Posts: 221 Member
    You are a sleepwalker. My son is one too, but he has never made a meal or eaten while sleeping. But he has taken things like knick knacks, phone chargers and things like that and moved them to another room. Or hide them in his own room. When you ask him if he'd seen them he says no and is totally floored when I find them in his drawer! I have seen him sleepwalk. His eyes are open but he can't comprehend anything you say to him. I just have to let him do whatever until he goes back to bed.

    It's really strange.
  • TrishJimenez
    TrishJimenez Posts: 561 Member
    There is a simple solution: use a combination lock for all the food items you do not want to be sleep eating.

    unless you are a renter and cant damage the cupboards that way or the fridge appliance like I am Plus the kids have to be able to get up and make their breakfast before going to school
  • Quasita
    Quasita Posts: 1,530 Member
    There is a simple solution: use a combination lock for all the food items you do not want to be sleep eating.

    unless you are a renter and cant damage the cupboards that way or the fridge appliance like I am Plus the kids have to be able to get up and make their breakfast before going to school

    It's also not a simple solution because you'd have to not know the combinations to guarantee that it would work. That information is stored in the brain, awake or not, and could be just as easily accessed.

    It's a BETTER solution to review your medications and concerns with a doctor. They may be able to develop a plan, or have a sleep study done to determine just what's going on when you get up and do this.

    When I was a child, I would sleepwalk after supposed nightmares and go rock myself in the rocking chair for 10 minutes. It really can be an acute response to emotional and/or physical stress.
  • Missmissy0003
    Missmissy0003 Posts: 250 Member
    This can definitely be a side effect of some medicines.

    I have never sleep eaten, but I dream about food a lot and I always have. It's always something fornidden like chocolate chip cookies or lasagna.
  • Hi, I have been struggling with this for over a year. I have probably had fewer than 20 nights or so through which I slept the whole night without waking up and "needing" to have a snack. I am conscious, to an extent. I remember it the next morning pretty well, and I log it even while it is happening. I think I am thirsty, I work out lots and don't drink enough water, but I also have a history of restrictive eating. But this just cropped up for me around wedding planning time and I thought it would go away when I got married but it did not, it is a habit now. I normally go for carbs -- toast with honey or fruit. Sometimes I will add PB or cheese so at least I get some protein in there so I don't have to eat so much later. Sometimes I wake up two or three times and do this. I have sought help on some levels but not medical assistance yet. I do not want to take pills. I just want it to go away.
  • HauteP1nk
    HauteP1nk Posts: 2,139 Member
    My fiance does this. It is really interesting to read about why he does. I get so angry at him... I hate when he comes to bed smelling like food...lol