Waking up for a midnight snack? Really?

November 13, 2006 10:23 PM

How common is the `Midnight Snack'?

The very fact that the term `Midnight Snack' exists suggests that it's a common practice, but how often do people really wake up at night, get out of bed, head off to the kitchen and eat?

I've never done this, the very idea seems alien and slightly unpleasant to me (and I dearly love food). Asking around I haven't found any friends who do this.

I'm not talking about a late night raid on the fridge before bed or during a long evening, but someone waking late in the night, eating and then returning to bed.

Is it a cultural thing? Something more common in the past? Something which seems like it would be done often but in reality is rarely done?

posted by tomble to food & drink (34 comments total)

I'm not talking about a late night raid on the fridge before bed...

I'm rarely in bed before midnight, so for me a midnight snack does not involve any waking up.
posted by Robot Johnny at 10:27 PM on November 13, 2006

I always thought it was one of these things that maybe started as a euphemism for something else...
posted by wfrgms at 10:37 PM on November 13, 2006

I'm not talking about a late night raid on the fridge before bed...

If you have no experience with a midnight snack, why are you defining what it means?
posted by vacapinta at 10:38 PM on November 13, 2006

I sometimes did this as a kid/teenager, but I don't remember if I woke up to eat or was lying awake in bed and then went downstairs to have a snack to try and fall asleep.
Now that nobody tells me what to do anymore, I just go to bed after 1.30 AM and have snacks all the time!
posted by easternblot at 10:40 PM on November 13, 2006

When I was younger, my mom referred to any snack that was had after bedtime on a "special" occasion (like they went out & we got a babysitter) as a Midnight Snack. Otherwise I've typically thought of a Midnight Snack as something you do when you can't fall asleep. Like tonight: I'm considering some nice chips & salsa to go with my insomnia. Other nights, I prefer something like ice cream.
posted by good for you! at 10:40 PM on November 13, 2006

If you have no experience with a midnight snack, why are you defining what it means?

Because:

A- It's his/her question.
B- I believe he/she is referring to the cultural phenomenon as portrayed in modern media (TV, movies, ads...)

No, I have never known anyone to actually got up and eat in the night after going to sleep. I have known people to stay up and snack or to nap and get up for some food afterwards, but to raid the fridge after sleeping a few hours no.
posted by Pollomacho at 10:45 PM on November 13, 2006

I have one friend that actually does this. He will wake up at 2 or 3 am and go have a bowl of cereal. He rides 20 - 80 miles a day on his bicycle, though, and always has had this extremely high energy level.

I've never woken up hungry, but I also carry a couple of weeks (at least) worth of energy around my middle.
posted by maxwelton at 10:49 PM on November 13, 2006

If you have no experience with a midnight snack, why are you defining what it means?

You're right, I shouldn't ask about things I don't know all about. That's the way to learn!

Pollomacho is right in saying that that's how it's portrayed, the pyjama clad and semi awake person staring into the fridge in a darkened kitchen.
posted by tomble at 10:50 PM on November 13, 2006

I guess what I meant to say is how do you know that a Midnight Snack is not a "late night raid on the fridge before bed"?

That is, I am familiar with the pajama clad person staring into the fridge but why are you assuming that they were actually previously asleep and got up instead of an insomniac - which is how I understand the term.

I myself have gotten into bed, had trouble going to sleep and then decided to head into the kitchen and pour myself some milk. I always understood that to be a "midnight snack" But in the phrasing of your question you seemed to rule out that definiton for a reason I dont know.

(Am i being clear?)
posted by vacapinta at 10:59 PM on November 13, 2006

Or rather:

The very fact that the term `Midnight Snack' exists suggests that it's a common practice

I am just suggesting that the term is common but the definition may be broader than you are making it.
posted by vacapinta at 11:01 PM on November 13, 2006

I do. I think it's mostly an insomnia thing though, and I suspect most people would get hungry laying awake for 4 or 5 hours.

I also remember during a stay in hospital the nurses were always trying to get me to eat or take glucose tablets in the middle of the night because my blood sugar would drop quite low. It's not something that ever bothered before the insomnia, but I imagine that could be a reason for other people needing to get up and eat in the middle of the night, whether they realise the cause or not.
posted by sarahw at 11:10 PM on November 13, 2006

Well, by `Midnight Snack' I did mean the act of getting up, going to the fridge, eating, then going back to bed. I don't know a better term for it than midnight snack, so I did clarify it by describing the actions involved.

When I've asked people if they do this, I do mention the act of waking up hungry and heading off to forage in the kitchen. I've seen this portrayed in ads, comics etc, and it's usually clear that the person has woken up and is now eating.

The term midnight snack has, to me and others I talk to, always referred to this process, otherwise you're just having a snack. I realise that different people may interpret it differently.

To clarify : my question is entirely about people waking up for food, then returning to bed, like Maxwelton's friend.
posted by tomble at 11:13 PM on November 13, 2006

Just to make the insomnia part of that clearer--I tend to sleep for 3 or 4 hours and then am awake for 4 or 5 before maybe getting in another hours sleep before I have to get up. So yes, I am asleep and then I go and get something to eat before going back to bed.
posted by sarahw at 11:17 PM on November 13, 2006

I've been known to wake up hungry in the middle of the night and go get a snack. Generally a small piece of cheese or half a meusli bar. Ooo, I love sneaking an apple into bed in the middle of the night and eating it under the covers so my boyfriend doesn't hear. I have fairly high stomach acid so sometimes when I get hungry it really hurts, and it's a good excuse for eating whenever I feel like it.

The late night insomnia thing is less likely though, eating when I'm already having trouble sleeping just makes me more awake. I'd still call that a midnight snack though. We used to have Midnight Feast night on school camps where everyone brought and shared lollies and junk food before going to sleep. Which actually seems like a fairly silly thing to do with a bunch of primary school kids now I think about it.
posted by shelleycat at 11:25 PM on November 13, 2006 [1 favorite]

My mom tends to get up and eat in the middle of the night. She has the "falls asleep but can't stay asleep insomnia" and she often, when she wakes, she wakes up hungry. Usually she just has a bowl of cereal or something, but every now and then (usually after a particularly big dose of Ambien) she'll do something like eat a pint of ice cream and not remember it the next day.

I, on the other hand, have the "can't fall asleep" sort of insomnia. Fairly often, after dinner at 7:00 or 8:00 and a couple of hours trying to sleep, I'll have a rumble by midnight or 1:00 and need a little something before I can really turn in.
posted by mostlymartha at 11:28 PM on November 13, 2006

Every now and then I'll wake up in the middle of the night and feel really hungry. I then head to the kitchen, grab a snack, return to bed, and fall asleep pretty quickly. This happens maybe once every couple of months.
posted by epimorph at 11:38 PM on November 13, 2006

To clarify : my question is entirely about people waking up for food, then returning to bed, like Maxwelton's friend.

Okay, then I vote that you eliminate the part of your question that says The very fact that the term `Midnight Snack' exists suggests that it's a common practice... because a midnight snack is, to me, a snack eaten before bed. I'm 35 and I can't remember hearing it used another way. What I think is the cultural phenomena that is so alien to you, is people staying up past midnight on a regular basis. For most adults I know, waking up after sleeping for a few hours would have to mean waking up early in the morning.
posted by bingo at 5:15 AM on November 14, 2006

My wife gets up in the middle of the night, goes downstairs, and fixes herself some cocoa and maybe a piece of bread with jam. Those of you who think because you personally don't do it/know about it, it doesn't exist are way off base. The poster is asking a meaningful question, although one we can't answer (the question is "how common is it?"—unless one of us has done a nationwide poll, all we can offer are anecdotes); quit bitching about the question. Answer it or find another thread.
posted by languagehat at 6:09 AM on November 14, 2006

My friend does this as a sleepwalker (and does not take any sleep aids)... in the morning she'll know she's done it when she finds cheerios on the kitchen floor.
posted by xo at 6:24 AM on November 14, 2006

What I think is the cultural phenomena that is so alien to you, is people staying up past midnight on a regular basis.

Well, you're assuming that I live in an old folks home or similar with an 8 p.m. bedtime. In the way that you haven't heard of a midnight snack being used to describe someone getting up for a snack, I've only really heard of it being used to describe a semi-clandestine nocturnal snack.

I'm 35 and I can't remember hearing it used another way.

I'm 32 (and still awake at 1:30 am) and I can't remember hearing it used another way than that which I described. The reason I posted was to gain some clarity about the topic.

As I said above
Well, by `Midnight Snack' I did mean the act of getting up, going to the fridge, eating, then going back to bed. I don't know a better term for it than midnight snack, so I did clarify it by describing the actions involved.

My apparent failure to make clear my interpretation of the term itself, and your belief that your interpretation is the one true definition of the term is a little frustrating.

Digging around online I found a reference to it from a 1941 Tom and Jerry cartoon called `The Midnight Snack', based on fridge raids in the middle of the night.

Here are a few other people who also consider a midnight snack to be something enjoyed after waking late at night.

1,2,3,4,5,67,8.

I have no doubt that it's used to describe both snacking late at night and snacking after waking, but I'm familiar with the former and unfamiliar with the latter, so I asked the question.
posted by tomble at 6:41 AM on November 14, 2006

Thanks for the answers, folks! It cleared up both what people might mean by `Midnight Snack' as well as why people might do it. I hadn't considered insomnia or the keen cyclist's calorie needs!

Obviously I'm not going to get a statistically significant answer without a national poll, but it's given me some clarity on the topic.
posted by tomble at 6:47 AM on November 14, 2006

FWIW, I've wondered the same thing. Take the notion of walking downstairs (with pjs, under a robe) for that ever elusive chicken leg...

I betcha if we had a chicken leg in the fridge (we don't and never do, a shame really), and I actually got up in the middle of the night (something that rarely happens, and certainly doesn't take me farther than the bathroom for a glass of water), wore pjs (I don't) and had a robe (nada on this one, too), I bet I'd feel, momentarily, one with the human (American?) experience.

But as it is, I never have and most likely never will. And it's always puzzled me that it's such an iconic and consistent assumption in advertising. Neat question.
posted by 10ch at 7:13 AM on November 14, 2006

My husband often gets up in the middle of the night and has a snack - usually a bowl of ice cream. He has never had insomnia. I've always thought it was a blood sugar thing - blood sugar goes down and makes you wake up hungry.

I, on the other hand, do have insomnia, of the variety where you wake up in the early hours and have difficulty going back to sleep. If I'm having a bad bout, I find a glass of milk and some cookies, or a bowl of cereal does help me get back to sleep.
posted by lawhound at 7:26 AM on November 14, 2006

I've become a midnight snacker over the past 9 months or so... My boyfriend works 3pm to midnight Monday through Friday. I work 8am to 4.30pm, also Monday through Friday. My day usually goes like this: I wake up and go to work around 5.30am or 6am with the boyfriend still asleep. When I get home at 6pm or so (traffic sucks), I have a small meal. I cuddle with my hedgehog, Mango, and watch TV - usually falling asleep for a nap around 8pm. I'll then wake up around 11pm or midnight and stay up for a few hours, waiting for the boyfriend to get home. If he's hungry, I'll make him dinner and a bit extra for myself. If he wants a snack, we'll snack together. Then we go to bed. He works a lot of overtime too, so he's not always home right at 12.30am. Sometimes my midnight snack turns into a 3am snack.
posted by youngergirl44 at 8:35 AM on November 14, 2006

One more data point: my mom gets up almost every night and has a snack, usually leftovers or a bowl of cereal. She doesn't have insomnia or anything, she says she just wakes up hungry, eats, then goes back to bed. She probably goes to bed around ten, wakes up around 1 or 2, then gets up at six. It's bizzarre. I can't imagine wanting to get out of bed in the middle of the night, much less eat something.
posted by robinpME at 8:36 AM on November 14, 2006

FWIW, this phenomenon was a key plot device in many, many episodes of the Golden Girls. (IANAGG)
posted by hermitosis at 9:00 AM on November 14, 2006 [3 favorites]

Feel we need to hear from flapjax at midnite ...
posted by paduasoy at 9:31 AM on November 14, 2006

For what it is worth, I thought Midnight Snack also meant snacking after waking up in the middle of the night and wondered who did that. Never thought about the insomnia angle, which makes more sense. (And agree that if you happen to be up at/after midnight and snack before bed, it is just a snack. Why, don't know, that's just how I think about it).
posted by evening at 9:37 AM on November 14, 2006

Feel we need to hear from flapjax at midnite ...

Heh.

I cuddle with my hedgehog, Mango

This is the best thing I've read on MeFi today.
posted by languagehat at 9:46 AM on November 14, 2006 [1 favorite]

It definitely exists. I've woken up very hungry in the middle of the night for almost every night for 2 years now. It's so normal to me that it seems strange to read the rest of you don't do it.
posted by the jam at 10:39 AM on November 14, 2006

I read somewhere (and can't find it now, so it might be pure speculation) that before electric light, people would go to sleep very early and then get up again around midnight for a little while (working, "burning the midnight oil", socializing, sex) and then go back to sleep. That midnight period of being awake sounds like an opportune snack time to me - especially if one went to bed early and the last meal was a while ago. Maybe this is where the expression comes from, maybe I'm talking out of my arse. Who knows, maybe an ethymologist.
posted by meijusa at 11:59 AM on November 14, 2006

I wake up hungry a couple times a week; around 1 or 2 a.m. I usually grab a banana and if there aren't any bananas I'll make a couple slices of toast or have a bagel (I'm diabetic and I'm sure this has something to do with it). If I don't do this I definitely am hungry when the mister gets up to go to work (4:45 a.m.) and do the same thing (banana or toast or a bagel). Whatever time it is, I go back to bed after eating.
posted by deborah at 12:56 PM on November 14, 2006

Great answers! It's a bit of a bestfest in here, but I'm marking off all the interesting answers that help me get a better understanding. The diabetes angle is also something I hadn't considered, Deborah.
posted by tomble at 3:38 PM on November 14, 2006

I've never experienced this myself, but just last week one of my coworkers told me that every. single. night. she'll wake up at 2am, go to the kitchen, have a snack (usually candy or cookies), and then go back to bed.
posted by spinturtle at 6:14 PM on November 14, 2006