EE2 Draft

The Late Night Diet of the College Student

It’s the middle of the night. I’m finally deciding to the homework that I successfully put off until midnight the night before it was due. There’s something on my mind, but it’s not my work; it’s food! The urge to demolish an entire large pizza from Papa Johns has come barreling into my mind, and I feel that the only way that I’m ever going to be able to focus on my homework is if I satisfy this wild craving. Next thing I know there is an empty pizza box in the middle of my floor, and I’m ready to dive into the homework that had been deferred for the entirety of the day. Now you may think that this isn’t the worst thing that could happen; which would be true if this weren’t a nightly occurrence. The sad thing about my late night eating problem is that I am not alone. It is rare that I order food in the middle of the night and do not see another student also accepting a pizza or sub delivery. While it is very important that I finish my school work I find that it is also very important that I watch the way that I eat so that I do not become unhealthy at such a young age. This is what set me off on my journey to find out the health implications of eating at night and its connection to the overall health of college students

It is not uncommon for my mid-night meal to be the largest that I have in the day. I am usually exhausted from a long day of school and just need to unwind. This means that the nutritional value of the food that I eat is not exactly the first thing on my mind. All I want at this point is someone to bring me food so that I don’t have to be the one to make it. The big problem with this is that the foods that are available at this time aren’t exactly the foods that your doctor would recommend. Our late night choices are often limited to pizza that is dripping with grease or subs that are topped with cold, processed meats. According to Pizza Hut’s report of their nutritional information, one slice of their traditional pan cheese pizza contains 350 calories. (Pizza Hut) This is quite a bit when you consider that the recommended daily caloric allowance for teenagers aged 14-18 is approximately 2000 calories. (MyPlate) This means that when a college student is eating pizza for their late night meal they are consuming a large amount of their daily calories outside of the typical meal structure.

Coming into college I had no experience with weight gain at all. I have always been active in athletics which meant that I was always getting much more exercise than was need. All of this exercise for a growing kid caused me to eat ridiculous amounts of food on a daily basis, a lot of which wasn’t very healthy food. This meant that because I wasn’t participating in athletics at the college level I would have to find my exercise from a different source. This proved to be something I would have to learn the hard way. Only a couple of months into college I was able to notice that there was a small increase in fat on my body and a decrease in my muscle mass. I had been eating whatever I wanted because I had no one regulating my foods, and this was coming back to bite me in the butt. I had always had my parents around to tell me which foods I could and couldn’t have. They also were very stingy about how late I could stay up. This means that late night eating was something brand new for me and was probably one of the biggest causes of my fat gain.

I thought that the freshman fifteen was just a thing of myth, but it soon became apparent that it would not be very hard to achieve with the diet I had and my lack of exercise. Almost immediately after noticing this gain of fat, I decided that in order to keep my same lifestyle I would have to drastically increase the amount of exercise I was doing, which at this point was almost none. I began swimming or lifting weights three to four times a week and I began to see results very soon. If I began to busy in school, however, I would not be able to work out as often which would cause my weight to slip once again. This meant that the rise in my consumption of junk food, and my decrease in physical activity were combining to make me less fit.

During my research I was able to see that I was not at all alone when it comes to weight worries as a college freshman. According to a study done by Nicole L. Mihalopoulos of the University of Utah School of Medicine, “Freshman weight gain was 5.5 times greater than that experienced by the general population.” (Mihalopoulos) This is consistent with the findings of Brad Cardinal of Oregon State University who found in his study on the eating habits of college students that “Both males and females were consuming more than 30 percent of their calories from fat, which exceeds the American Dietic Association’s recommendation of no more than 30 percent a week.” (Yeager and Cardinal) While both of these studies show that first year college students are less healthy and gain more weight than the average person, it is still rare to see a student gain as much weight as the infamous freshman fifteen. For Dr. Mihalopoulos’ study the average student only gained 2.7 lbs., and for a similar study that was conducted at Auburn the mean average for the students tested was only 2.6 lbs. (Gropper, 226)

After reading this research I began to think, “Is there a connection between these general unhealthy eating habits and the weight gain associated with them and eating substantial amounts late at night?” To answer this question I looked into a study by Ruth H. Striegel-Moore, a professor of psychology at Wesleyan University, and her associates. They set out to determine the health implications of night eating. They interviewed a total of 8,250 participants about the foods they had eaten the 24 hours before. From the data that they collected they were able to separate the participants into two groups: night eaters, and non-night eaters. They classified a night eater as anyone that ate 50% of their daily calories after 7 pm or ate anything after 11 pm. I would definitely find myself as a part of this group. They found that approximately 25% of participants were able to be classified as night eaters. When the night eaters were compared to the non-night eaters they were able to see that night eaters did not eat as healthy as non-night eaters. Night eaters consumed, on average, 300 more calories, 300 mg of sodium more, and slightly less protein than their non-night eating counterparts. Despite this clear difference between the diets of night eaters and non-night eaters, they were unable to find a difference in the occurrence of obesity between the two groups. This means that although eating late at night tends to be unhealthier than traditional eating, it doesn’t have a direct connection to weight gain. (Striegel-Moore)

The high amount of calories consumed late at night is not the only negative effect of eating before going to sleep. Another major effect of late night eating is the way that it affects sleep. Whenever I eat large amounts of food before bed the pressure of the food within my stomach often makes it too uncomfortable to sleep immediately. This causes me to often wait to go to bed until after my meal has settled which results in me losing out on precious sleep. “Insomnia or the inability to fall or stay asleep is the most common sleep complaint among Americans, according the National Sleep Foundation.” (McLaughlin, Insomnia) Eating or drinking too much right before sleeping can contribute to this. (McLaughlin, Insomnia)

Sleep deprivation is no slight matter. According to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, the short term effects of sleep deprivation can include: anxiety, drowsiness, forgetfulness, decreased performance and alertness, memory and cognitive impairment, and more. (PAMF) If this sleep deprivation continues for a long period of time the effects can be much more severe. The long-term impacts can include high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, and psychiatric problems. The most noticeable effect from sleep deprivation that I experience is drowsiness. This causes me to not be able to pay attention in class and occasionally I will even doze off. This drowsiness then causes me to choose to take naps instead of doing homework. This means that once I am done sleeping it is fairly late, and my homework won’t be started until late at night. This chain reaction causes me to eat a late night meal all over again. This is a vicious cycle that will often continue throughout my week.

While I am aware that my diet has never been exceedingly healthy, I never really thought about the way that my dietary changes at college especially the habit of night eating had affected my health. My life has become one that is filled with unhealthy choices, and there is definitely a connection between my health and my choice to eat late at night. Eating at night is just one of many factors that contribute to the general unhealthiness of college students. It is apparent that my dietary habits, along with those of many other college students, must be changed in the future in order to prevent lifelong health problems.

Works Cited

Gropper, Sareen S., Karla P. Simmons, Alisha Gaines, Kelly Drawdy, Desiree Saunders, Pamela Ulrich, and Lenda J. Connell. "Freshman 15-A Closer Look." Journal of American College Health 58.3 (2009): 223-31.Unc.edu. Web. 22 May 2013.

"How Many Can I Have?" ChooseMyPlate.gov. United States Department of Agriculture, n.d. Web. 22 May 2013.

Mihalopoulos, Nicole L,M.D., M.P.H., Auinger, P., & Klein, Jonathan D,M.D., M.P.H. (2008). The freshman 15: Is it real? Journal of American College Health, 56(5), 531-3. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213088707?accountid=14608

McLaughlin, August. "The Negative Effects of Eating Before Bed." Healthy Eating. SFGATE, n.d. Web. 22 May 2013.

"NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION." Pizza Nutrition, Calories in Pizza. Pizza Hut, n.d. Web. 22 May 2013.

"Short- and Long-Term Effects of Sleep Deprivation." Sleep Disorder Center. Palo Alto Medical Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 May 2013.

Yeager, Angela, and Brad Cardinal. "Study: College Students Not Eating Enough Fruits and Vegetables." Oregonstate.edu. Oregon State University, 17 Aug. 2011. Web. 22 May 2013