People who eat while sleeping

Leaving the bed in the middle of the night, rushing into the kitchen to find food and devour it while still asleep. It is unusual for a 22-year-old girl, Amy Koecheler, at Eau Claire, Wisconsin (USA) from an early age.

Amy Koecheler found food while sleeping and never remembered it. ABC News's camera recorded her looking for night food. (Photo ABCNEWS.com) This phenomenon is called "eating during sleep", an unusual behavior, caused by stress, alcohol, sleeping pills or in the case of Koecheler is hereditary.

Approved by Koecheler, America's "Good Morning America" ​​(TV) program placed surveillance cameras in her apartment for a week, and "caught up" with Koecheler eating the night while Sleep, record the scenes that both she and her boyfriend have never seen. When watching the tape, Kocheler was surprised at his behavior. "What am I doing? I don't dare believe that I ate bimbim, that horrible thing .? I don't look like a zombie alive." She said she did not remember what she did and what she ate at night was recorded by the camera.

But her mother missed her "habits". " From a young age, she had a problem of sleeping while she was sleeping," she said. "She got up every night and went to the kitchen. Then she sat on the couch, her mouth, her head, her neck stuck. Chocolate chips, and I always have to wash her hair at 3 am '.

4 years ago, before going to college, Koecheler was sent to the Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Disorders in Minnesota and her illness was relieved somewhat. Dr. Carlos Schenck of the Center said: ' Amy does not have an eating disorder, nor does she suffer from anorexia or gluttony. I believe, her leg-agonizing syndrome stimulated the problem of eating during sleep . ' Koecheler's case is quite special: she inherits her father's hyperthyroid syndrome and her sleeping syndrome.

However, according to Schenck, Koecheler's illness is quite mild compared to some cases he witnessed and forced to take anticonvulsants. He said, this is not a food issue. ' Maybe some people are obsessed with food. But they only account for very small quantities. There must be a chemical imbalance '.

At the Sleep Disorders Diagnostic and Treatment Center (Minnesota), surveillance cameras have snapped up about 100 patients sipping something while still sleeping. Schenck said, this happens more often if they are at home. ' They will eat calorie, fat and carbohydrate foods ,' he said. ' They had a big pastry, a box of ice cream, or half a bottle of peanut butter '.

In his new book "Paradox Lost", Schenck recorded the miserable stories of patients, including one who said: ' I can't remember I was What to eat and how much to eat. I tried locking my mouth, tying my hands together, bandaging the refrigerator . but completely useless . '