Anna Ryan, captured on a night-vision camera, eats fruit during a sleep-eating session.
(ABC News)
But Schenck always reminds his patients that it's not a character flaw or a matter of willpower. According to Schenck, sleep-eating is a medical issue, a major "physiological force, coming from deep within your brain and body to eat so inappropriately."
Researchers have discovered that the brain of a sleep-eater behaves differently than an average brain. During normal sleep, the part of the brain which controls movement remains asleep. But in a sleep-eater, that part of the brain "wakes up" -- and this allows for all sorts of physical activity. But the part of the brain which controls reason and judgment remains asleep.
According to Schenck, it is in this zombie-like state that sleep-eaters function.
"They get up and they see their environment," he said. "They know where the kitchen is. But they have no judgment, no inhibition."
It is this lack of judgment which makes for odd menus. Some of Schenck's patients have eaten cat food sandwiches, soap, Elmer's glue, chunks of frozen pizza, and even eggshells. Anna Ryan admitted that she has eaten medicine in her sleep, so now her husband locks the medicine cabinet every night.
Doctors are still trying to understand the exact cause of sleep-eating, but they know what often cures it. In most cases, it's medication -- a variety of different meds can help a patient curb their nighttime noshing.
Amy Koechler decided that after 20 years of sleep-eating she needed to get help. Schenck put her on the same kind of drugs that prevent seizures. They don't work for everyone, but they did help Koechler. She still sleep-eats once in a while, but she is no longer a habitual visitor at the all-night diner in her own kitchen cabinets.
Now she can get a good night's rest -- if she keeps taking the medicine.
"It's something that I am not going to be cured from," she said. But the occasional unconscious night-time snack is something she can "learn to live with."
Unfortunately Anna Ryan didn't respond as quickly to medication. Dr. Eveloff said that in his experience sleep eaters generally fall into two categories.
Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News.
