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Picture this: one minute you’re fast asleep, and then all of a sudden, you feel a pang of hunger. Your stomach growls, and you wonder whether it was real or part of a dream. You wait a minute to find out, perhaps even drifting back to sleep. The hunger pang hits again. Now you’re faced with a decision: ignore the feeling and go back to sleep, or get up and eat something. Either way, it’s disruptive.
But why do some people experience this in the first place? Is it normal, or a sign of something more serious? Here’s what to know about waking up hungry—and what to do about it.
Occasionally waking up hungry in the middle of the night is perfectly normal, and typically isn’t cause for concern. According to Dr. Michael Genovese, MD, nighttime hunger can be caused by a mix of biological, lifestyle, and psychological factors. A common culprit is what you ate—or didn’t eat—during the day. “Unbalanced diet or inadequate evening meals may cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly, then drop, leading to hunger in the night,” Genovese says. Unstable blood sugar can often be the result of primarily eating refined carbohydrates for dinner, adds bariatric surgeon Dr. Hector Perez, MD. Eating too little protein or fiber during the day can also lead to hunger pangs at night, Perez explains.
It may also have to do with your physical activity. Getting a lot of exercise during the day can also cause nighttime hunger, says primary care physician Dr. Anjali Sawhney, DO. Hormonal issues play a role, too, since elevated cortisol from stress or poorly controlled insulin levels can make you hungry at night, Perez says. “Stress and anxiety can trigger ‘stress hunger’ and create a habitual comfort behavior like grabbing a midnight snack,” Genovese says. “Over time, this can create conditioned routines in which you wake up feeling hungry.” Other hormones, like leptin and ghrelin, regulate satiety and hunger and can be disrupted by poor sleep quality, stress, and hormonal changes, which can lead to feeling hunger at odd times, he adds.
On the other hand, sometimes when you wake up in the middle of the night thinking you’re hungry, you might actually be dehydrated instead, Perez says. “And then there’s a simple habit: if someone routinely snacks at night, the body starts expecting calories at 2 a.m. and sends hunger signals on autopilot,” he adds.
While nighttime hunger isn’t necessarily a foolproof indicator of larger health problems, it might be something of concern if it’s happening frequently, Genovese says. “If it’s chronic, that’s a red flag,” Perez adds, and often points to poor glycemic control—meaning your blood sugar is spiking and crashing. It could also point to an underlying pattern, like chronic under-eating or hormonal imbalance, Genovese explains.
The answer depends on why you’re waking up feeling hungry. If you wake up hungry out of habit or craving sweets or carbs, then eating at night may reinforce this cycle, making it harder to stop, Genovese says. In this case, you should probably avoid grabbing a snack.
If your stomach is growling and you’re truly hungry, however, then having a small, balanced snack can help you fall back asleep, Genovese suggests. “You want [a] protein and healthy fat to stabilize you until morning—not more sugar that spikes and crashes again,” Perez says. Plus, if you’re going to eat at 2 a.m., it’s a good idea to make it boring. “If it’s boring enough, you’ll only eat if you truly need it,” he adds. In situations where you’re genuinely hungry in the middle of the night, Genovese, Perez, and Sawhney recommend grabbing one of these snacks.
If your nighttime hunger is paired with shaking, dizziness, or sweating, Genovese says that it could be low blood sugar, and you should eat something with fast-acting carbs. Either way, Sawhney recommends reevaluating your daily dietary intake to make sure you’re eating a well-balanced diet rich in vegetables, fruits, proteins, and whole grains, and avoiding skipping meals. “Lifestyle changes would be a great first step to helping manage your symptoms,” she says.
If it’s happening more than a couple times a week for several weeks, that’s not normal, Perez says. If you’re experiencing other symptoms, like frequent urination, unexplained weight changes, or fatigue, it’s a good idea to see a doctor. Additionally, if you’re waking up with excessive thirst, dizziness, shakiness, or sweats—or if nighttime hunger is paired with insomnia or mood changes—Genovese says that you should speak to a medical doctor right away.