How To Quit Middle Of The Night Eating

Middle-of-the-night eating is just a habit that can be developed by believing that eating helps you get back to sleep. 

Middle of the night eating is like a dashboard indicator light that is trying to get your attention about unresolved things in your life that need your attention. 

Try these strategies for at least two weeks to help you break the habit of nighttime eating. 

1. What are the thoughts you think about when you wake up in the middle of the night? The next day explore those thoughts in your journaling by using curiosity and compassion. We want to get a clear idea of what the problem is and explore options for how you want to think about it in a way that feels right for you.
 
2. Create a protocol that gives you clarity around what you will or won’t do when you wake up in the middle of the night.
 
3. Be sure you are getting your movement in, so your body is physically tired, which makes it easier to stay asleep throughout the night.
 
4. Give yourself clear options for what you will and won’t do if you are awake in the middle of the night. 

• You can lie there without getting up. 
• You can jot down what you are thinking about. Then be sure you journal around these thoughts during the day.  
• You can also read a book on Kindle with the backlight on low to give your brain something boring to focus on so you can access getting sleepy. 

Try it for two weeks and see if you can make some progress toward breaking the habit of eating in the middle of the night.

Visit me @thriveinmidlife on Instagram on the episode 29 post and comment with your ah-ha's, takeaways, homework, and/or questions from this episode, and let’s keep the conversation going.