Night eating is associated with emotional and external eating in college students

The night eating syndrome (NES) consists of evening hyperphagia and/or nocturnal eating and has been associated with depressed mood that worsens in the evening. However, it is not consistently related to elevated BMI. The present study was conducted to examine whether a relationship exists between NES and emotional, external, and restrained eating. BMI and sleep quality were also obtained. A sample of 246 students completed the Night Eating Diagnostic Questionnaire (NEDQ), Night Eating Syndrome History and Inventory (NESHI), Sleep Quality Index (SQI), and Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), containing subscales for emotional, external, and restrained eating. They also provided demographic information, including height and weight. Participants were grouped by severity of NES features using the NEDQ and NESHI: normal, mild night eater, moderate night eater, and full night eater syndrome. MANOVA was used to compare DEBQ subscores for the groups; those in the full syndrome category had significantly higher emotional eating scores and external eating scores than those in the normal and mild categories. There was no difference in restrained eating between the normal and full syndrome groups. Those with moderate and full syndrome NES symptoms also reported significantly lower sleep quality. No significant relationship was found between NES and BMI. The results show that NES is associated with more eating in response to negative mood and in response to food cues.

► Night eating syndrome (NES) consists of evening hyperphagia and/or nocturnal eating.
► We tested whether there is an association between severity of NES and eating styles.
► NES symptom severity was associated with eating in presence of food cues.
► It was also associated with higher eating while distressed.
► NES was not associated with BMI and was associated with low sleep quality.