Awareness of disorder may hold key for those who eat in sleep
Professor Lea Montgomery has devoted herself to publicizing a rare disorder that causes people to sleepwalk and eat. Sufferers have been known to eat slices of soap while asleep.
By Taylor Gibbons
Staff writer

In 1998 Lea Montgomery, a professor at the Harris School of Nursing, encountered a patient with a strange problem. The patient, a woman who exercised daily, ate a healthy diet and did not drink, would rise during the night still in a sleeplike state and proceed to eat slabs of butter.

Confused and distressed, the woman had recieved no sympathy from the medical community, most of which was not even aware that a disorder such as hers even existed. Since then, Montgomery has published two papers in the hopes of raising awareness of this unique and potentially dangerous ailment.

The malady, known as Nocturnal Sleep-Related Eating Disorder (NSRED) is characterized by rising during sleep — much as a sleepwalker would — and then eating what are usually large amounts of food.

Those afflicted with NSRED don’t eat as they would in the daytime hours, instead consuming erratically whatever foodstuffs and sometimes non-foodstuffs are at hand.

There have even been reports in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of incidences of people drinking cleaning products, eating slices of soap and buttering cigarettes before consuming them. Although it’s exact cause is unknown, The Chicago Daily Herald reports that studies have suggested that the condition is linked to low nighttime levels of the sleep hormone melatonin, and high levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

The disorder, according to the Los Angeles Times, has also been linked to restless legs syndrome and sleep apnea, both of which cause a person to sleep fitfully and be more likely to sleepwalk. Exactly what causes those with NSRED to eat, however, is not quite clear.

Montgomery herself has published two papers in the hopes of raising awareness of this unique and potentially dangerous ailment and its possible causes.

“If a person were already overweight, then the factors connected to that might also be connected to Nocturnal Sleep Related Eating Disorder, but a full psychological evalution would be required to actually be sure,” she said. “We know for certain that the hypothalamus is activated in some way. People don’t recall being hungry. It just happens.”

Although the exact sources of the ailment are unknown, treatment options do exist.

“Medications have been effective,” Montgomery said. “Anti-convulsants, anti-parkinsonian medications, SSRIs and Wellbutrin have all been shown to help symptoms. Other than that, it’s important to maintain good sleep hygiene, and just generally take care of your body.”

One interesting aspect of NSRED is that appears more commonly in women than in men. This, Montgomery revealed, is due to social factors rather than any physiological difference between the sexes.

“Women are more likely to report medical problems than men,” she said. “It’s a societal thing.”

Another curious point regarding Nocturnal Sleep Related Eating Disorder is that despite it’s potential seriousness and the fact that it was first identified in 1955, it has remained largely marginalized.

“Actually, the documents from 1955 only say that a patient had a night time eating disorder,” Montgomery said. “They don’t specify whether the patient was conscious or not.”

Since then, NSRED has remained relatively unknown largely due to it’s seemingly improbable and often embarassing nature.

NSES is a condition about which little is known. However, continuing efforts such as those ofMontgomery and others are helping to bring this serious and potentially life threatening ailment into the public eye.