Ep.94 5 Easy Strategies To Stop Nighttime Eating Tonight To Improve Your Sleep & Decrease Your Stress & Anxiety!

Are late-night cravings keeping you from a good night’s sleep and sabotaging your health goals?

If you’ve been struggling with unwanted snacking before bed or find yourself reaching for food after dinner, you’re not alone. Nighttime eating can disrupt your sleep, lead to weight gain, and impact your overall well-being, but it doesn’t have to control you. In this episode, we’ll break down exactly why nighttime cravings happen and how you can overcome them with practical, science-backed strategies.

In this episode you’ll:

1. Discover the science behind the root causes of nighttime eating and how to distinguish between emotional and physical hunger.

2. Learn five easy strategies to help you break the habit and set yourself up for success without feeling deprived.

3. Gain tools to create a food free nighttime routine to help you manage stress and emotions so you can enjoy restful sleep and feel your best.

 Tune in now to discover simple, effective ways to stop nighttime eating and reclaim your sleep and health!

 Listen to fan favorites:
 Ep. 53 Coping Skills to Manage Anxiety & Other Difficult Emotions in Midlife: Naming (Part 1)

Listen to Ep.54 Coping Skills to Manage Anxiety & Other Difficult Emotions in Midlife: Taming & Aiming (Part 2)

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About the Host: 

MJ Murray Vachon, LCSW, is a seasoned clinician, educator, and host of the podcast Creating Midlife Calm, recognized by Maria Shriver as a “Listen of the Week.” Over the past 40 years, MJ has led more than 50,000 therapy sessions and developed the Inner Challenge mental wellness program and the Inner Challenge Master Class, practical tools for emotional regulation, self-awareness, and resilience taught for more than 30 years in junior high schools and at the University of Notre Dame for freshman football players. Through her podcast, teaching, and coaching, MJ helps people build calmer lives, stronger relationships, and healthier communities.

Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast designed to guide you through the challenges of midlife, tackling issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy, procrastination, and isolation, while offering strategies for improving relationships, family support, emotional wellbeing, mental wellness, and parenting, with a focus on mindfulness, stress management, coping skills, and personal growth to stop rumination, overthinking, and increase confidence through self-care, emotional healing, and mental health support. 

Transcript

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M.J. Murray Vachon LCSW 0:00

it's not all about willpower or even want power that that can lead you to eat late into the night.

MJ Murray Vachon LCSW 0:07

Welcome to Creating Midlife Calm, a podcast dedicated to empowering midlife minds to overcome anxiety, stop feeling like crap and become more present with your family, all while achieving greater success at work. I'm MJ Murray Vachon, a licensed clinical social worker with over 48, 000 hours of therapy sessions and 31 years of experience teaching mental wellness.

M.J. Murray Vachon LCSW 0:31

Welcome to the podcast. Today is Thursday, where I follow up on my Inner Challenge from Monday's episode that focused on five simple sleep hacks to better your sleep. If you haven't listened to that episode, I invite you to give it a listen because sleep is the most important thing you can do to enhance your physical and mental health. The Inner Challenge I gave you on Monday was to avoid eating two hours before bedtime. This is the sleep hack that many of my clients have said was the number one thing that helped them get a better night's sleep. This sleep hack sounds easy, but often it isn't. You may be surprised to learn that it's not all about willpower or even want power that that can lead you to eat late into the night. On today's episode, I'll talk about the science behind nighttime eating, the common triggers for it and practical strategies to break the habit. Whether you were successful or have yet to try this inner challenge, this episode is a twofer. Stopping nighttime eating not only will help you get better sleep, but can also help you manage your weight. Whether it's grabbing a snack before bed or raiding the fridge in the middle of the night, nighttime eating is a behavior that can disrupt your health and well being. Understanding how this habit affects your body can be a real motivator to change. There are both biological and psychological factors at play when you eat that bowl of ice cream. One of the most important distinctions to make is between emotional hunger and physical hunger. Emotional hunger often strikes at night because after a long day, you're winding down and seeking comfort. Whether it's stress, boredom, or even a reward after a tough day, food can become a way to soothe those emotions. It's not about nourishing your body. but feeding those feelings. I will never forget when I learned that eating often numbs how we feel. It was a eureka moment, when I realized people aren't eating at night to be self destructive or because they lack willpower, but often to manage their feelings. There is a better way. There are also biological reasons that can cause you to eat at night. Our hormones play a major role in these late night cravings. Hormones like cortisol, ghrelin, and leptin are the body's messengers. Cortisol, known as the stress hormone, can stay elevated after a challenging day, triggering cravings for high calorie foods. Ghrelin, the hormone that signals hunger, can be elevated at night, while leptin, which tells you you're full, might not work as effectively. This imbalance can lead to overeating at night, even when your body doesn't need the fuel. See, it isn't all about willpower. Eating late into the night activates digestion, which keeps your body from fully resting. Think about it logically. It takes a lot of energy for our body to break down food. When you eat at night. This can lead to lighter sleep or even wakefulness throughout the night. Additionally, eating often means consuming foods that aren't ideal for digestion. Most people aren't eating an omelette at 9pm. When your body is busy processing heavy, late night snacks, digestion slows down, which can leave you feeling bloated, uncomfortable, or even lead to acid reflux. Over time, these habits can cause you to gain weight as your body stores those extra calories rather than burning them. Lastly, nighttime eating has a significant impact on your blood sugar. When you consume high carb or sugary foods late at night, such as ice cream and candy, your blood sugar levels spike and drop, which interferes with restful sleep and sets the stage for blood sugar instability the next day, leaving you feeling sluggish or craving even more sugary foods. If you've been a nighttime eater, Don't get judgy, because that isn't helpful. Actually, it probably just makes you eat more. Get curious about what triggers you to eat at night. Curiosity leads to self awareness, which is a great place to begin if you want to create new habits. So let's look at common triggers that you might experience that lead to nighttime eating, as well as some practical and can do strategies for each of these triggers so you can end your day in such a way that you can improve your sleep, which improves your next day. If you're like many people in my therapy practice, you might be a daytime undereater and a nighttime overeater. One of the best ways to prevent nighttime cravings is to make sure you're properly fueling your body all day long. If you're not eating adequately throughout the day, by evening you're starving. This often leads to overeating at night to compensate for the lack of calories earlier on. It's easy to mistake your body's need for nourishment as a craving for something sweet or high calorie, especially when you've been running on empty. 9 p. m. while watching their favorite show. Want a strategy to address this? Yes, eat three meals and two snacks throughout your day. Focus on balanced portions of healthy fats, protein, and fiber, especially at dinner. These nutrients will help you stay fuller and reduce the urge to snack late at night. You may be surprised, but the secret to avoiding nighttime eating is eating more, not less, during the day. Give it a try and don't forget to drink enough water. Also understand that alcohol is very disruptive to sleep. So refrain from alcohol on most nights of the week. Maybe your cause of nighttime eating is emotional hunger. Stress, sadness, boredom, anger, or even loneliness often lead us to seek comfort food. a tough day, it's tempting to treat yourself to something indulgent, thinking it will help you unwind. The problem is that emotional eating only masks the feelings you're trying to avoid. Instead of reaching for food, commit to learning how to tend and befriend your emotions. When you're in a period of your life where you have a good amount of emotional distress, here are two sugar free coping skills. First, Take a five minute walk. Walk away from the cookies and notice the world around you. Really notice. Take something in. the trees. Deeply listen to the sound of the night. Look at the moon. For five minutes. Just walk. In five minutes your mind will be clearer, and who knows, you may want to walk a bit longer. If walking isn't an option, tend and befriend your feelings. You can do this sitting, standing, or lying down. Gently place your hands on your body where you feel the physical sensations of your emotion and follow your breath for two minutes. It's fine if your mind wanders, just bring it back to your breath. Follow the bell curve of the emotion, allowing the intensity to decrease with each breath. Remember, what goes up must come down. With a clearer mind, ask yourself, Do I really want these cookies? Or would I rather get a good night's sleep so I can handle this stress? Tomorrow. If you want more information on how to manage emotions, listen to episodes 53 and 54 where I help a woman do exactly this. If you're going through a difficult time, consider journaling or having a meaningful conversation with someone earlier in the day. This can help you avoid the overwhelm that often arises at bedtime when these concerns have not been addressed. If boredom or loneliness causes you to eat at night, create a glimmer list. Five activities that make you happy. Maybe painting, watching a comfort show, or Going for a walk, calling an old friend, listening to your favorite playlist. Remember, being human is all about finding unique strategies to cope with emotional distress. Creating a toolbox of strategies not only increases your sleep quality and emotional intelligence, but also keeps you away from the donut box. Maybe stress eating isn't your challenge, but you're a mindless eater. It's become a tradition of yours to have a bag of chips, a bowl of popcorn or ice cream, while watching TV, scrolling through social media, or just because the food is in front of you. You're not really hungry, but the habit of snacking during these activities has become automatic. It's hard to notice how much you're eating when your mind is elsewhere. The strategy here is two fold. The first part is obvious. You can't mindlessly eat if the food doesn't show up. The second part is that if you've trained yourself to multitask, eating and doing some mindless activity, it can feel a bit uncomfortable to just sit and watch the show or scroll through your phone without snacking. Try moving to a new location, one that feels pleasant. Wrap yourself up in a blanket. Light a candle. Switch the food for mood. Don't bring food to your mindless party. It's really hard to eat if the food isn't there. You could also hang a sign in your kitchen after dinner that says organs at work. Remember our organs need 8 to 10 hours food free every night in order to repair and replenish so they're ready to go the next day. The final strategy is about creating a nighttime routine that feels cozy and makes you look forward to ending your day without food. Be intentional. Pick your favorite spot in your house to unwind, take a bath, sit outside and listen to the crickets, read a book, do a meditation with your favorite app, play the guitar, do Wordle, or flip through a stack of library magazines. Fill yourself up with activities that can help you relax and enjoy this time of day more. You might think, there's no way I have time to do this. But what you'll find is that getting a good night's sleep adds time to your day. In this episode, I followed up on Monday's Inner Challenge to avoid eating two hours before bedtime. I discussed the science behind why stopping nighttime eating is so helpful, as well as some common triggers for it and practical strategies to break the habit of nighttime snacking, so you can get better sleep. Sleep isn't optional. You can't outsource it. It's up to you to create the mindset you need. And plan to take back this essential wellness tool. Trust yourself as you create a nighttime routine that works for you. Consider living by the 80 percent rule. If 80 percent of the time you follow best practices for your health, your body and mind can adapt to the other 20 percent. This makes vacations, late night dinners, and weekend nights fun with no guilt and minimal cost to your wellness. Thanks for listening, and I'll be back on Monday to help you Create more Midlife Calm.