Nocturnal snacks are doing serious damage to the health of Koreans, experts say. It¡¯s not easy to keep a resolution to go on a diet when it is possible to have fried chicken or smoked pork hocks delivered within five minutes even at 1:00 a.m. just by making a phone call. But experts warn that nighttime snacks are emerging as one of the country¡¯s leading health threats.
¡ß Nocturnal snacks and after-work outings damage your health
¡°Hong¡±, a university student, looks gorgeous at a height of 168 cm and weight of 48 kg. But she suffers from a problem no one knows about. She usually skips breakfast and lunch, and eats dinner only. Her nightmare stars after dinner. At about 9:00 p.m., she first allows herself to enjoy some ice cream, before moving on to a bowl of noodle and other food. When she is full, she feels guilty that she has eaten too much ¡°again,¡± so she makes herself throw up before going to bed. After more than a year, Hong is now being treated for bulimia.
¡°Park¡± has gained 17 kg since he got a job with a big company after college a year ago. The reason was frequent after-work drinking and late eating to deal with stress at work. Later he developed persecution mania that made him think that everyone was laughing at him for becoming so fat, and eventually he quit his job.
¡ß One out of 100 Koreans has night eating syndrome
A survey of 1,087 adults by a team of researchers led by Prof. Park Kyung-hee of Hallym University Medical Center found that one out of 10 Koreans have evening hyperphagia and one out of 100 suffers night eating syndrome. Evening hyperphagia is a condition where more than half of total daily calories is consumed during and after the evening meal. It is one of the two main symptoms of night eating syndrome, along with nocturnal awakening with indigestion. Notable in the survey was that night eating was most prevalent among those in their 20 and 30s. One out of five people in their 20s or 19.2 percent had evening hyperphagia, while the figure was only around 8 percent among those in their 40s and 50s.
¡ß Seek treatment
Night eating syndrome itself is not considered a disease yet. But experts say it becomes one when the syndrome leads to obesity or is coupled with insomnia or depression. That is when professional help is needed. It is common knowledge that night eating can cause obesity. Prof. Park says people with evening hyperphagia suffer lack of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone in the body. ¡°That is the reason for their good appetite and makes it hard for them to lose weight,¡± she adds.
Habitual night eaters suffer insomnia, too. Night eating stimulates gastric activity and awakens the autonomic nervous system, thus reducing the secretion of melatonin, the sleep-inducing hormone. The repetition of this condition can eventually cause changes in biological clock and make it hard to go to sleep at night even without night eating.
¡ß What causes night eating syndrome?
There are several causes for night eating. One cause is depression. Research by Park¡¯s team showed that those who suffer light depression are 2.5 times likely to get evening hyperphagia than those who do not. They tend to deal with their depression by eating at night. ¡°Serious depression causes loss of appetite, but when depression does not reach that serious point, appetite increases,¡± Park says. ¡°It¡¯s therefore important to find ways to release stress other than eating night snacks, and in some cases anti-depressants are recommended.¡±
Another cause is smoking and drinking. People who drink over three shots of soju, the traditional Korean distilled liquor, a day are three times more likely of having evening hyperphagia than those who do not drink at all, because alcohol increases appetite by stimulating gastric secretion. Smokers also have a twice higher tendency to have evening hyperphagia than nonsmokers.
Frequent after-work gatherings and overtime work are also contributing factors. Dr. Kim Ha-jin, who runs the 365mc Diet Clinic, says that when tension is released after work, it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn increases appetite. ¡°A corporate culture where working until late at night rather than getting work done early to go home on time is considered a virtue plays a part in spreading the night eating habit,¡± he adds.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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