# Going to bed full & waking up hungry **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2002, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953 "2002-12-26T09:05:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![msgotrocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8edcca/32.png) [@msgotrocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msgotrocks)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/1 "2002-12-26T09:05:42Z")
Why is it that when you go to bed when you’re full, you wake up famished? ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/2 "2002-12-26T09:22:00Z")
How long do you sleep? Lets say 8 hours or for the sake of arguement. That means even if you eat right before you go to bed, your body will have been fasting for at least 8 hours (more if time elapses between your last meal of the day and the time you turn in for the night). So if you’re body’s been fasting for at least 8 hours, when you wake up, it’s time to break the fast… BREAKFAST! 🙂 (Sort of cute how that works out, huh?) ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/3 "2002-12-26T09:23:55Z")
Oh, and welcome to the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![fauxpas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e480ec/32.png) [@fauxpas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fauxpas)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/4 "2002-12-26T10:15:07Z")
well this occurs because when you eat it usually takes about 30 minutes for the food to properly digest. So when your asleep your basically “sub-concious”. So in context to your question, you are not noticing that your hungry except that your body believes your hungry or should i say your mind? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/5 "2002-12-26T11:32:24Z")
I’ve always wondered this too. Sorry to put words in your mouth msgotrocks, so correct me if I’m wrong but I think this is what he’s asking: If you go to bed not particularly full you will wake up not particularly hungry, but if you go to bed after just having eaten a big meal you will wake up absolutely starving. At least that’s my experience. I’d like an answer to this too. ---
**Author:** ![msgotrocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8edcca/32.png) [@msgotrocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msgotrocks)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/6 "2002-12-26T13:17:29Z")
Cisco’s got it exactly. What explains this more full=more hungry, less full=less hungry phenomenon? ---
**Author:** ![jenex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@jenex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jenex)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/7 "2002-12-26T16:34:57Z")
That happent to me too; if I go to bed hungry then I wake up not hungry. But if I go to bed full then I wake up with a growling stomache. Glad to hear I’m not insane. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/8 "2002-12-26T16:55:54Z")
Same here. If I go to bed and haven’t eaten anything in awhile I’ll wake up not hungry, but if I go to bed after rather full I will wake up very hungry. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/9 "2002-12-26T17:19:36Z")
Hmm…don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but I’ve always been a rather sporadic eater – never really eat the same amount at the same time every day, just whenever I’m hungry. I’ve noticed that if I eat a large meal, I’m usually more hungry the next time I eat than I would be if I only ate a light snack. My theory is that because our stomachs can stretch to accomodate the amount of food we’re eating, once we’ve eaten a larger amount and stretched our stomach to allow it, it will want at least the same amount next time to fill it properly ( a larger amount ) thus, we’re hungrier than we would have been had we only eaten a small amount that didn’t make our stomach stretch to fill it. Does that make sense? ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/10 "2002-12-26T18:22:42Z")
Depends on what you eat. For example, a high carb, low fiber/protien/fat meal will digest quickly, causing a spike and then a sudden decrease of blood sugar. The body reacts to low blood sugar levels by causing cravings- I.e Hunger. If you have not eaten for awhile, I would imagine that the body would tap into fat sources and the blood sugar levels would level out. ---
**Author:** ![fauxpas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e480ec/32.png) [@fauxpas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fauxpas)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/11 "2002-12-26T20:45:50Z")
Uh…pardon me for being quite the “pest” but did any of you read my input? It’s not an opinion its based on facts and experience…no offense guys. ANYWAYS… I think Jet girl sort of filled up the gap I had in my theory, I should put this in my class, perhaps a quiz for the inquisitive person? lol Now remember there are no stupid questions…just inquisitive idiots. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/12 "2002-12-26T20:48:26Z")
[Hello, John:] And boy, the wacky dreams you have sleeping with a full stomach! ---
**Author:** ![X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbe5ce/32.png) [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2002, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/13 "2002-12-26T20:55:36Z")
Your body does what you train it to do. If you eat just before going to bed, then youve trained it to eat at certain intervals, and in 8 hours or so, it wants food, so you wake up starving. If you normally wait a couple of hours after eating before going to bed, your body realizes that sleep (a good one) means no food for a long time. Eating just prior to going to sleep produces a less quality kind of sleep. The digestion keeps you from going into deep sleep which relaxes your brain and body. So people who eat midnight snacks will wake up hungry whether or not they eat just before sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-bed-full-waking-up-hungry/144953/14 "2002-12-27T05:34:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fauxpas \* > \*\*Uh…pardon me for being quite the “pest” but did any of you read my input? \*\* Yeah, I read it- just didn’t make sense.