The food industry is going to love this one: The NY Times
reports today that some doctors have documented cases where people taking the sleep medication Ambien have been induced to eat ...
in their sleep!
The lead:
The sleeping pill Ambien seems to unlock a primitive desire to eat in some patients, according to emerging medical case studies that describe how the drug's users sometimes sleepwalk into their kitchens, claw through their refrigerators like animals and consume calories ranging into the thousands.
And no, I am NOT making this up.
The next morning, the night eaters remember nothing about their foraging. But they wake up to find telltale clues: mouthfuls of peanut butter, Tostitos in their beds, kitchen counters overflowing with flour, missing food, and even lighted ovens and stoves. Some are so embarrassed, they delay telling anyone, even as they gain weight.
The paper points out that "more than 26 million prescriptions for Ambien were dispensed in this country last year, an increase of 53 percent since 2001."
Dr. Carlos H. Schenck, a sleep disorders expert in Minneapolis and the lead researcher on the study, estimates that thousands of Ambien users in the United States experience sleep-related eating disorders while taking the drug.
Now, if they could just find a drug that would compel me to exercise in my sleep.