Hungry at night problem

[Keliot]

Hi,

I've been on a lean diet/plan for many years and have maintained very lean/thin physique with same weight for many years with very little problems/challenges and only minimal insignificant hunger feelings occasionally during the day or related to exercise. That was my 20's and 30's.

Now that I am entering my 40's I am noticing a lot of hunger at night, often problems going to sleep and waking up in the middle of the night hungry and ill at ease and unable to go to sleep. I don't ever wake up hungry in the morning, that is never a problem. (If I do manage to get back to sleep by the morning the hunger is gone but usually not able to go back to sleep). 

I've played around with the time of meals, number of meals, composition of meals, like have more fat/protein later before bed, carbs only in the morning, vice versa, nothing seems to help. Big meal before bed/small meal before bed?

I am not advanced CR and have not been losing weight or exercising more, same 6'4" 185 lb's for many years. I am not deficient in anything and eat a well balanced combo of nutrients from every type. 

Any advice/suggestions? I HATE getting up of bed and having a meal in the middle of the night, it is disruptive for many reasons. 

Thanks for everyone's contribution, hope to get some new answers, not happy here.

[BrianA]

Try googling regarding carbs, serotonin, and sleep. I tend to eat a pretty high carb last meal of the day, around 5 hrs before bed, and sleep great.

[Ron Put]

I don't know how much it might help, but I find that at the rare times I wake up hungry, drinking sufficient quantity of water generally makes the munchies disappear. I also then listen to an audiobook or a podcast with a sleep timer, which takes my mind off.

[Todd Allen]

I used to get hungry frequently day and night when my blood sugar was unstable but that resolved after switching to a ketogenic diet.  I still sometimes feel hungry in the evening when I only eat breakfast and skip lunch and dinner.  Typically though the hunger is mild without issues like weakness, fatigue, headache or brain fog such as when my blood sugar was dropping.  Now I embrace mild hunger as I associate it with better performance instead of crashing.  If food cravings get too strong and aren't resolved with activity, water or tea I can without fail abolish hunger quickly with a strength training session in my bathroom which I converted into an infrared sauna with seven 250 watt heat lamps.  This wipes me out and after a cold shower I lie down and fall asleep as if knocked out by a sledge hammer.  When I regain consciousness the next morning there is no sign of hunger regardless of how hungry I was the previous evening.

[Keliot]

Thank you, no problems with hunger during the day.

Tried water and cold tea by bedside at night, no effect unfortunately. 

I can't do ketogenic diet, it's too unhealthy for me and my body, I stay in the balanced zone. 

I don't have food cravings. 

[Todd Allen]

If it is only at night I'd consider things such as sleep hygiene, breathing issues and stress in addition to dietary factors.

[Keliot]

I go to sleep every day at the same time religiously, I need to be fully rested the next day for high mental concentration work, so my sleep hygiene is as good as it gets, fully dark room, no distractions, no TV before bed, etc etc. I've spent years perfecting it, it is so important to me.

I don't have any breathing issues, my sleep study was normal, no sleep apnea, my friend happens to be a sleep specialist and we did it anyways even though I don't have any problems. 

I manage stress as well as another person, not better not worse, reasonable person level. 

 

[Todd Allen]

8 hours ago, Keliot said:

I manage stress as well as another person, not better not worse, reasonable person level. 

 

Have you tried meditation?  I've been doing mindfulness,  practicing fully focusing my attention on one thing to the exclusion of everything else, for a couple years and while not particularly good at it yet I find it helpful when my mind is too busy to sleep.  Not only is it calming but I'm beginning to have some success tuning out unpleasant sensations such as hunger and pain.  Sometimes when unpleasant sensations are too strong to give my full focus to something else I place full focus on the pain or hunger and dive into it deeply which can result in a numbing to the sensation.

[drewab]

Just wondering how long you are sleeping? I suffer from the same problem intermittently and I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly what is going on. I am fairly caffeine sensitive and anything more than say, 100mg early in the day, disrupts my sleep. However, one interesting pattern I've noticed is that if I sleep 7 hours, it's fairly good with little wakefulness. When I regularly sleep 8 hours I'm waking up hungry at night all the time. Just curious, what does a typical day of food, exercise, work, and other activities look like? It sounds like you are committed to a healthy lifestyle and have much to be proud of. 

[Annik]

On 6/18/2020 at 12:43 PM, Keliot said:

Thank you, no problems with hunger during the day.

Tried water and cold tea by bedside at night, no effect unfortunately. 

I can't do ketogenic diet, it's too unhealthy for me and my body, I stay in the balanced zone. 

I don't have food cravings. 

I would say ease up on yourself. If you have a meal or snack, and it means getting a restful night sleep, do it. Can you delay the time that you resume eating during the day? if you can't, don't stress about it. We want to live longer, but not at the expense of quality of life.

 

[Keliot]

I don't drink coffee at all, maybe occasional tea bag, but it might be herbal tea so that shouldn't have any caffeine.

I sleep about 8-10 hrs, I can't function well on less and yes, longer sleep is hungrier, if for some reason I do get to only sleep like 6 hours then I don't have enough time, I guess, to get hungry, and by that time I already wake up. 

I've started eating more carbs and much closer to bed time, last couple of days have been good sleep, but I pretty much would fall off any CR with that and end up just eating a standard/plentiful type diet then. 

Meditation is great, I do use it to deal with feelings/unpleasant emotions, all that, and I can certainly deal with the hunger itself, just not good enough to get myself back to sleep. I will try better meditation, I probably could do a better job with it, it is a powerful technique. 

\Thanks everyone.

[Indr]

Thank you everyone. I am new to 16 ; 8 intermittent fasting. I am wondering do you guys eat say the 2 meals at the same time everyday? I have not been able to do that yet. I am more of less only eating two meals a day, but there are days that I give into the cravings and indulge in some late evening snacking or even worse some take-out food. and I have noticed that overall it makes my next few days very difficult. I get super hungry with heartburn and despite drinking fresh lemon+water to neutralize the stomach acid, I continue to get the stomach grumblings. I also get hungry early in the morning sometimes and later in the evening And it is not mental hunger, it is real stomach growling hunger. So there is likely a disturbance in the circadian stomach cycle? What strategies have others used to overcome this?

Thank you

Edited June 27, 2020 by Indr