Night Eating Syndrome and Nocturnal Sleep-Related Eating Disorder

The night eating syndrome (NES) is currently classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition (DSM-5) [1] as an eating disor- der, within the category of “Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder.” According to DSM-5, it is characterized by recurrent episodes of night eating, in terms of eat- ing after awakenings from sleep, or by excessive food consumption after the eve- ning meal. The awareness and the recall of the nocturnal eating episode are present. This pattern of behaviors should not be explained by environmental influences or social norms and should lead to significant impairment and distress. Moreover, the disordered eating pattern must not be explained by other mental disorders, such as binge eating disorder (BED), and is not attributable to another medical disorder or to an effect of medication.