Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Night eating syndrome (NES) is a highly disruptive eating disorder affecting as many as 1 in every 100 people. (1) Because night eating syndrome is so complex and often occurs with other mental and physical health conditions, there are different treatment approaches and levels available.
People who struggle with night eating syndrome tend to also struggle with insomnia and can consume up to 25% or more of their daily food intake during the night. (2)
People with NES often have other eating disorders, like bulimia and binge eating, and mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression, as well. (1)
Like other eating and mental health disorders, night eating syndrome can have life-threatening complications and requires treatment. The treatment approach depends on the severity and complexity of the case, available options, and other factors.
Library sections you should visit
The most intensive level of care for night eating syndrome, like other eating disorders, is inpatient treatment.
Typically, this type of treatment is reserved for people in immediate need of help. They may be medically unstable or suicidal and require medical care and around the clock supervision.
Patients are typically hospitalized, where they can be monitored and offered medical help 24/7. Treatments can include:
Patients can stay in inpatient care for a few days up to two weeks, leaving once they have been physically stabilized and cleared by physicians.
A “step down” from inpatient care is residential treatment. Many people struggling with NES and other types of eating disorders start with residential treatment.
Residential care still involves 24/7 supervision, but in a specialized residential treatment facility for eating disorders. Patients live at the facility and are monitored day and night, though the atmosphere is more “homey” than hospital-like.
That’s, in part, because residential treatment stays can be lengthy, with patients staying anywhere from several weeks to a year. This type of treatment is also typically recommended for patients who: (3)
During their stay, patients may participate in a number of different treatments as part of their individualized care program, including: (3)
For patients with night eating syndrome, emphasis may also be placed on developing healthier sleeping patterns through regular exercise or muscle relaxation techniques. And attention will also be devoted to any concurrent eating disorders, such as bulimia or binge eating disorder.
Once a patient has made sufficient progress in a residential treatment facility, they can move on to a partial hospitalization program (PHP).
For people struggling with night eating syndrome, this transitional level of care is a particularly big step. It requires patients to be at a facility all day but allows them to go home at night, which is the most problematic time of day for people with NES.
As such, NES patients may be given additional therapeutic techniques or tools to help them through this phase. (2) Otherwise, patients in a PHP program can anticipate receiving help through: (3)
Most partial hospitalization programs call for patients to come into the facility five or six days per week, for between four to six weeks. (3)
After completing a partial hospitalization program, patients enter an intensive outpatient program (IOP). At this level of care, the patient is able to manage their housing, transportation, and work or school responsibilities, as well as life stressors without significant fear of relapse.
During IOP, people with NES will continue to receive help through: (3)
Intensive outpatient programs are less demanding, with patients typically coming into a treatment center three to five hours per day, for around four to six weeks. This schedule allows them to not only incorporate new coping techniques into their home life but also start taking proactive steps toward further progress, such as by going to school or work.
The final level of care for people struggling with night eating syndrome is outpatient care.
At this point, patients have typically demonstrated sufficient control over all eating disorder symptoms, without letting the rigors of a busier schedule trigger a relapse.
Still, patients at this level of care may still feel they want some help. With outpatient care, that usually happens through recurring sessions with a therapist and regular meetings with physicians to discuss medication levels.
Overall, people who have reached the outpatient stage have shown great progress toward recovery, and are committed to continued healing.
You might also be interested in
Nearly every level of care for people with night eating syndrome will include some type of psychotherapy. There are many different types of psychotherapy a person may undergo when seeking treatment for night eating syndrome.
At its core, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) teaches patients not to fight, change, or actively ignore their thoughts, but rather to simply accept them for what they are, then let them go. The technique is thought to help promote relaxation, mental peace, and clarity, and ease symptoms of anxiety and depression, which impact many people struggling with NES. (4,2)
ACT builds its therapeutic framework around six major principles, including: (5)
As one of the most widely studied treatments for eating disorders, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has become the leading evidence-based treatment for bulimia and is used to help combat many other types of eating disorders, including night eating syndrome. (6)
CBT works in almost the opposite way of ACT, focusing on helping people change disruptive thought and behavioral patterns that help lead to or sustain negative behaviors, such as night eating syndrome.
Typically following a pre-set schedule, cognitive behavioral therapy sessions focus on three main goals to accomplish this outcome:
Most cognitive behavioral therapy programs also teach techniques that help a patient self-monitor after therapy is over and offer ideas for how to get back on track, should any relapses occur.
Though CBT programs are usually shorter in length, this type of therapy can be more intensive, with a number of “take home” assignments to reinforce these new lessons, including:
Often used as a secondary type of therapy, cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) helps build stronger thinking skills, strategizing capabilities and other cognitive functions. Because of this, it’s frequently a companion to CBT, ACT, and other types of therapy to help patients reinforce the new skills and thought patterns they’re learning.
CRT can also help create more cognitive flexibility. Often cited as a contributing factor to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia, a lack of cognitive flexibility can lead to rigid thinking patterns that help maintain the disorder. (7)
Cognitive remediation therapy forces the brain to consider more possibilities, using types of games, puzzles, or problem solving techniques to drive the lessons home.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an effective psychotherapy option for people who need help regulating their emotions or curbing self-destructive behavior. Generally, the goals of this practice include learning how to:
To reach these goals, DBT teaches patients:
The goal is for these new skills to help a patient ease stress, build confidence, and move through the world with greater awareness and control.
Traditionally used to help people conquer their fears, exposure therapy works to bring patients face to face with situations or objects that have triggered unhelpful thought or behavioral patterns for them in the past.
Exposure doesn’t have to take place in real life. This therapy can also involve exposure through:
When used effectively, the concept can help a patient build a tolerance toward situations that used to deeply and negatively impact them. Other advantages of exposure therapy include: (8)
When it comes to recovering from night eating syndrome, exposure to certain situations connected to disordered eating or sleeping patterns may be beneficial.
As its name implies, group therapy is a form of talk-therapy that takes place among a group of people, facilitated by one or more therapists.
This type of treatment can have a number of valuable outcomes, including:
Many times, group therapy patients may have shared backgrounds, or be struggling with similar disorders, but sometimes the group is more diverse. Groups can also be open to anyone, or closed to specific members who go through the program at the same time.
For people struggling with NES, support groups focused on sleeping or eating disorders may be helpful places to seek further treatment.
Family-based therapy is a form of group therapy, this method involves members of the patient’s family concurrently attending therapy sessions. Members can all attend the same sessions at the same time or see a therapist separately.
The specific aim of this type of therapy is examining a person’s disorder or unhelpful thought or behavioral patterns through the lens of family roles or dynamics. Family therapy can also help with: (9)
Family therapy is also especially useful for a person who lives with their family. And this can be doubly helpful for someone struggling with night eating syndrome, as a majority of the disordered behavior takes place at night, in the home.
Interpersonal therapy also operates on the framework of relationship dynamics but expands that view beyond the family unit.
This type of psychotherapy examines a person’s broader role in society, with a specific focus on how the conditions or expectations of that role change during times of transition. Situations that may be especially suited for interpersonal therapy include:
Of course, the technique is useful beyond this scope. At its core, interpersonal therapy strives to change someone’s relationship patterns, rather than targeting the disordered symptoms that may be caused by them. Helping someone change their relationships, or their feelings about their role in the world, the thought follows, will help encourage acceptance and, eventually, recovery.
Nutrition counseling and meal support can be a particularly important aspect of treatment for night eating syndrome, since the condition is centered around a specific disordered eating pattern.
Most people struggling with NES will not eat in the mornings, but will wake up once or several times during the night to eat. There’s also a correlation between people struggling with night eating syndrome and people who diet, because they don’t get enough food to nourish their bodies during the day. (2)
In these cases, nutrition counseling and meal support can help through the power of education and support.
For patients continually experimenting with diets, nutrition counseling can educate them about the damage diets do to the body and mind, why diets don’t work in the long term, and why they often lead to weight gain, as well as offer new strategies to improve their relationships with food and their bodies.
Meal support can also help correct eating patterns, encouraging patients to eat more in the morning and throughout the day before they go to sleep. (10)
Experiential therapies allow a person to express themselves through means other than talking and using words. Most of these methods are hands-on, which empowers the person to embody their feelings rather than analyze them.
The idea is to get people out of their minds and into their bodies, channeling—and, eventually, releasing—negative or pent-up energy through the act of creation. This can be accomplished through any number of mediums or activities, including:
These types of therapies have been found to have many benefits, including:
For people struggling with night eating syndrome, experiential treatments—especially the more physically active ones—may have the added benefit of helping maintain a more regular sleep cycle. (11) As consistent energy outputs, these therapeutic techniques can offer valuable outlets and a stabilizing routine for people who may otherwise stay up all night or have difficulty falling asleep.
You might also be interested in
Night eating syndrome may seem difficult to overcome, but help is available, and recovery is possible. The approaches above have all been found useful for treating eating disorders, including night eating syndrome.
The professionals at Within Health have specialized expertise in eating disorders and tailor personalized treatment programs for each individual’s needs. Our team offers virtual care programs for eating disorders, where we can help you from your home. If you suspect you or someone you love may need help with night eating syndrome, contact Within Health to learn more about effective treatment options.
Disclaimer about "overeating": Within Health hesitatingly uses the word "overeating" because it is the term currently associated with this condition in society, however, we believe it inherently overlooks the various psychological aspects of this condition which are often interconnected with internalized diet culture, and a restrictive mindset about food. For the remainder of this piece, we will therefore be putting "overeating" in quotations to recognize that the diagnosis itself pathologizes behavior that is potentially hardwired and adaptive to a restrictive mindset.
Disclaimer about weight loss drugs: Within does not endorse the use of any weight loss drug or behavior and seeks to provide education on the insidious nature of diet culture. We understand the complex nature of disordered eating and eating disorders and strongly encourage anyone engaging in these behaviors to reach out for help as soon as possible. No statement should be taken as healthcare advice. All healthcare decisions should be made with your individual healthcare provider.
