Disease Proof

It may seem strange, but one side effect of the popular sleeping pill Ambien is reportedly a sleep-related eating disorder, which causes some Ambien users to unknowingly sleepwalk into their kitchens, raid the refrigerator and gorge on snacks. Stephanie Saul of The New York Times reports:

"These people are hell-bent to eat," said Dr. Mark Mahowald, who is director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Minneapolis and is researching the problem.

He and colleagues are preparing a scientific paper based on their findings that a sleep-related eating disorder is one of the unusual side effects showing up with the widespread use of Ambien. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have made similar findings.

By coincidence, just a couple of days ago on DiseaseProof, while discussing caffeine, Dr. Fuhrman said:

Of course, I would prefer people not engage in addictive habits in general, because that inevitably leads to eating more food to treat their addictive withdrawal symptoms, and continues their addictive relationship with food and drink contributing to their ill health in general.