Kitchen is closed. Or is it? Nighttime hunger is a real health issue. If we let it, it can easily get out of control. There’s no denying that it’s really really hard to curb hunger that plagues us at night. When answering the question, “Why Am I So Hungry At Night?”, it is imperative to figure out why the kitchen is calling us as night falls, and equally as important to learn how to quit the midnight munching. Today, I am going to help you with both!
Tara’s Tuesday Tips:
Why Am I So Hungry At Night?
You think you are doing everything right all day to be ‘healthy’ and then the clock strikes 10pm and you mosey over to the kitchen. Night after night, same thing. Cravings + hunger + stomach growling + then before you know it, you have just consumed an entire day’s calories in one trip to the kitchen. Give yourself some grace, this might be more than willpower. Here are some other reasons you can’t seem to ditch the fourth meal.
Hormones
With increased stress during the day, the hunger regulating hormone, ghrelin, spikes at night giving us the feeling of real hunger. Ghrelin’s partner in crime is peptite YY. We can thank this hormone for giving us the feeling of fullness. However, when we have had a busy + stressful + overwhelming day, peptide YY plummets leaving us feeling like no matter how much we eat, we are not yet full. Thanks, YY.
Decision Fatigue
After the thousands of decisions we make all day for the good of ourselves and others in our lives, we are worn out and flat out hungry. At a certain point, autopilot takes over. I don’t know about you but if I feel hungry at night, I’m not going to weigh my options of the celery stick vs the cookie. The decision tree is closed, I’m going with the cookie. The struggle is real.
You Didn’t Eat Enough During The Day
Willpower only lasts so long. If you are restricting your calories too much during the day, your body will go looking for those calories at some point!
It Isn’t Actually Hunger, It Is Emotions
Emotional hunger. Yep, it is real. You might try to tell yourself it is not but yes, it is. Uncomfortable emotions tend to creep up on us at night while somehow we managed to avoid them during the day. Using food to cope with those emotions means you are avoiding dealing with something else going on in your life. Get help!
Medications
Yes, I have a doctorate degree, but I am not your doctor. MANY medications can cause nighttime hunger! Just a few are antidepressants, steroids, and various stimulants to name a few. Go through your personal medication list with your healthcare provider if you are struggling with excessive nighttime hunger. It might help!
Medical Conditions
It might not be willpower, stress, or what you eat or don’t eat during the day! It might be an actual medical condition. Thyroid problems, obesity, vitamin deficiencies, and diabetes are the most common but there could be more. If you really struggle with nighttime eating (or overeating) see your health care provider, get some basic labs, and get help!
You Are Thirsty
Dehydration can be confused for hunger. Same concept I discussed in my article, Guide To Mindful Snacking, you might have been so behind on fluid intake all day that you think your body needs food but it actually needs to be rehydrated.
Night Eating Syndrome (NES)
Yep, it is an actual DSM-5 diagnosis, and it is surprisingly common. With this condition, the majority of the day’s calories are consumed at night. Most often, this consumption is accompanied by other behaviors indicative of an eating disorder such as eating alone, binging, embarrassment over food, eating until uncomfortably full, negative self-image, depression, guilt over food, and often concurrent substance abuse.
You Are Tired
Remember our good friend ghrelin. Yep, ghrelin strikes again. When you are consistently not getting enough sleep, that signals the hunger hormone to go up. So, a few nights of bad sleep will put you in the kitchen the next night battling your hunger pangs thanks to good old ghrelin.
Evening Workouts Leaving You Under Fueled
Like to work out in the evening? I am all for squeezing in a workout whenever you can, but restricting your afternoon or evening calories might be the cause of excessive nighttime hunger. If you make a habit out of not replenishing calories burned from an evening workout, this might leave you looking for food when all you should be looking for is your pillow.
Tara’s Tips To Tackle Feeling Hungry At Night
- Make sure you are getting enough calories during the day.
- Ditch the food rules. Excessive daytime restriction might be encouraging the psychological drive to eat to take over at night.
- Sleep more!
- Keep track of protein, fat, and carbohydrate intake. If nighttime hunger is a problem for you, perhaps you aren’t getting enough of one of the key macronutrients.
- Properly fuel your workouts no matter what time of day you work out.
- Use a hunger scale. Ask yourself if you are truly hungry, and if the answer is yes, trust your body and give it the fuel it needs.
- Make sure you are staying hydrated throughout the day to avoid evening dehydration which can be confused for hunger.
- Reevaluate your nighttime habits. Sometimes we associate certain activities with eating such as watching TV or reading. If this is a hunger trigger for you, change it up!
- Therapy might be the answer. The only answer. If the reason is sadness, loneliness, embarrassment, shame or guilt, therapy is the answer.
- Get some blood work + a routine checkup. Seriously, this is the first step in finding out if perhaps your medications, an undiagnosed medical condition, or even a vitamin deficiency are to blame for your midnight munchies.
I hope this helps you stay healthy, day + night ☀ 🌙
All the best,
Tara 💚
A Few Other Tuesday Tips That Might Help:
How To Find Happiness In The Kitchen
Signs That You Should Go Plant-Based
Survival Guide to Vegetarian Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting for Vegetarians
Your Health Goes Way Beyond Food
The Truth About Carbs (Good vs Bad Carbs)
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**This article was originally published September 2021, updated/revised March 2024**
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