Night eating syndrome: effects of brief relaxation training on stress, mood, hunger, and eating patterns

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Night eating syndrome (NES) is characterized by a lack of appetite in the morning, consumption of 50% or more of daily food intake after 6:00 p.m., and difficulty falling and/or staying asleep. It has been associated with stress and with poor results at attempts to lose weight. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relaxation intervention (Abbreviated Progressive Muscle Relaxation Therapy, APRT) that has been shown to significantly reduce stress levels in normal, healthy adults would also benefit an NES sample. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A total of 20 adults with NES were randomly assigned to either a relaxation training (APRT) or a Control (quietly sitting for the same amount of time) group, and all subjects attended two laboratory sessions 1 week apart. Pre-and postsession indices of stress, anxiety, relaxation, and salivary cortisol were obtained, as well as Day 1 and Day 8 indices of mood. Food diaries and hunger ratings were also obtained. RESULTS:The results indicated that 20 min of a muscle relaxation exercise significantly reduced stress, anxiety, and salivary cortisol immediately postsession. After practicing these exercises daily for a week, subjects exhibited lowered stress, anxiety, fatigue, anger, and depression on Day 8. APRT was also associated with significantly higher a.m. and lower p.m. ratings of hunger, and a trend of both more breakfast and less night-time eating. DISCUSSION: These data support the role of stress and anxiety in NES and suggest that practicing relaxation may be an important component of treatment for this condition.

Impact of Applied Progressive Deep Muscle Relaxation Training on the Level of Depression, Anxiety and Stress among Prostate Cancer Patients: A Quasi-Experimental Study

“…Our result contradicted with the findings of the study among gynaecology and breast cancer patients underwent brachytherapy (p=0.03) (Leo´n-Pizarro et al, 2007) and among night eating syndrome (Pawlow et al, 2003). The depression score was significantly decreased by using Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) among heart failure patients (Yu et al, 2007) and advanced cancer patients (Sloman, 2002).…”

“…On the stress level, the results supported the findings of some previous studies that investigated the impact of different relaxation technique among night eating syndrome patients (Pawlow et al, 2003), undergraduate students (Pawlow and Jones, 2002), pregnant women (Bastani et al, 2005) and healthy young adults (Emery et al, 2008). Yu et al (2007) found a medium-size effect (partial η 2 = 0.7) for alleviating psychologic distress in patients with chronic illness.…”

“…There were other studies that show significant difference in many different relaxation techniques in reducing anxiety level such as in dental fear patients (Lahmann et al, 2008b), eating syndrome patients (Pawlow et al, 2003) and among post coronary bypass graft surgery underwent rehabilitation care (Dehdari et al, 2009). Mackereth et al (2009) found a combination between reflexology and relaxation therapy were significantly reduce in anxiety subscale in General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and in State-Anxiety Inventory Scale among multiple sclerosis patients.…”

Night eating syndrome in class II–III obesity: metabolic and psychopathological features

“…This idea is indirectly supported by the long history of unsuccessful weight loss attempts usually reported by night eaters. 32 The few available data indicate a potential beneficial effect of sertraline, 33 cognitive behavior therapy 34 and relaxation training, 35 but we still lack large randomized trials to evaluate the role of these procedures in the management of NES associated with morbid obesity.…”

Night eating syndrome: How to treat it?

“…42 Subsequently, the same group reported the case of a non-obese patient with NES and depression, who underwent morning phototherapy with 10,000 lux of white light for 30 minutes; after 14 sessions, improvement of depression and symptoms of NES was observed. 43 The effect of progressive muscle relaxation therapy on stress, mood, hunger, and eating pattern was evaluated by Pawlow et al (2003) in 20 individuals with NES randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. In the latter, patients remained at rest for the same time duration of the therapy session.…”