Last Updated:
Science Behind Chocolate Cravings: Many times you must have felt that the desire to eat chocolate or sweets is more at night. According to American gastroenterologist Dr. Saurabh Sethi, the desire to eat chocolate or sweets late at night is not a result of weak willpower, but the result of the body’s biological clock and lack of sleep. Cravings intensify at night due to changes in circadian rhythms, hormones, and the brain’s reward system.
Night-Time Chocolate Cravings Reason: Most people like to eat chocolate. Often people have a desire to eat chocolate at night, which becomes difficult to control. People blame themselves for the craving for chocolate or sweet food late at night and consider it to be the result of weak willpower. However, according to Dr. Saurabh Sethi, a gastroenterologist practicing in America and who studied at Harvard, the reason for the desire to eat late at night is not our habits, but the biological process of the body. As the day progresses, such changes occur in the body and mind that make it difficult to stop eating. This is a completely natural process.
Many researches show that due to less sleep, the ghrelin hormone in the body increases by 20-30 percent, while the leptin hormone decreases. Due to this hormonal imbalance, the person feels more hungry and does not feel satisfied even after eating. If this habit persists for a long time, it becomes more difficult to control cravings in the evening and night. Brain scan studies also confirm why the desire to eat late at night seems uncontrollable. When there is insufficient sleep, the reward centers of the brain become 25-30 percent more active after seeing high-calorie food. The result is that cravings increase and the ability to say no becomes weak.
The habit of eating late at night also has a negative impact on health. According to research, people who eat at night feel more hungry the next morning and their fasting blood sugar level may also increase. Apart from this, eating late affects deep sleep, which further worsens the balance of hormones and appetite. Continuing this pattern for a long time can increase the risk of weight gain and metabolic diseases. Use of mobile and screen further increases this problem. Scrolling on the phone or watching videos at night keeps the brain more active and delays sleep. Also, the food advertisements and videos seen on the screen continuously stimulate the reward system of the brain.
