Mental Health Disorders - Eating Disorders

Night eating syndrome (NES) was identified in 1955 by a psychiatrist with a specialty in eating disorders (1). NES is characterized by “morning anorexia, evening hyperphagia and/or nocturnal ingestions, and insomnia” and is a “dysfunction of circadian rhythm with a dissociation between eating and sleeping” (1).

 

The causes of NES are not clearly defined, but it appears to have a familial component (2). NES may also have a hormonal basis, involving dysregulation of nocturnal