Diagnosing Sleep-Related Eating Disorder

Sleep-related eating disorder is classified as a parasomnia, involving a misalignment in circadian eating and sleeping behaviors. It predominantly affects females, with 60 to 83 percent of patients being women. Despite weight gain being a significant issue, this disorder is not driven by hunger. Hunger is virtually never reported, and some patients have tried desperate measures to suppress the urge to eat during sleep, but without success. The disorder is often a nightly phenomenon, leading to distress and a sense of losing control over eating. Diagnostic criteria include recurrent episodes of dysfunctional eating after arousal from sleep, with partial loss of cautious awareness and impaired recall. Medical attention is sought due to excessive weight gain, diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, dental problems, allergic reactions, and secondary depression. Sleep-related eating disorder commonly emerges from sleepwalking and restless leg syndrome, as well as sedative hypnotic medication use.