Many people find it difficult to control their appetite at night. Researchers from Brigham Young University in the United States have discovered that this is the brain's doing.
Researchers had volunteers view multiple high-calorie food pictures at different times of the day, while simultaneously scanning their brains with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The results showed that high-calorie food pictures could stimulate the brain to become active quickly during the day, reaching a peak, but at night, this stimulation was less pronounced, and the brain's activity level was generally average.
The researchers said that this, to some extent, explains the reason why people tend to overeat at night: the "reward" from food for the brain is insufficient, so they eat more in the hope of achieving satisfaction.