Despite many efforts to break unhealthy eating and sleeping habits, the pattern continues. While most selective eaters manage to include greens in their diet for half the year, they often become consistent victims of irresistible temptations like Wendy’s saucy nuggets and Culver’s burgers (my favorite!). The connection between eating disorders and disruptive sleeping schedules is, unsurprisingly, a tight-knit one.

The digestive system does most of its heavy lifting in the morning. So, when a person indulges in compulsive eating during the middle of the night, it’s no wonder that medical experts shy away from the unrealistic task of monitoring such impulsiveness. Medicines like Lisdexamfetamine provide a more pharmaceutical and pathologic approach to addressing binge eating, but even these aren’t a complete fix. Remember that old proverb: “Prevention is better than cure,” right? If that phrase makes you pause and think “No!” then maybe it’s time to ask the next person you meet about their comfort level with paying outrageous hospital bills on top of their tuition and car insurance.

So, what’s going wrong here? Pharmaceutical advancements are clashing with mouthwatering commercials, creating a culture where it’s tough to maintain a nutritious eating habit that could prevent numerous health concerns and even lower mortality rates. It’s like two forces pulling in opposite directions, leaving us stuck in the middle.

This issue calls for a deeper, more physiological understanding of destructive eating habits. In her book The Deepest Well, Nadine Burke offers a multidisciplinary approach to tackling health conditions and harmful behaviors. She suggests that traumatic events from the past play a significant role in creating adverse health issues. When our bodies are exposed to dangerous environments that activate our fight-or-flight defenses, they often start to malfunction. Instead of being adaptive, our bodies become threatened by unexpected circumstances. This overstimulation generates excessive adrenaline, making our heart race and increasing the chances of disruptive sleeping patterns and compulsive eating.

On top of that, excessive stress leads to the production of cortisol. A study by Jacqueline Bruce, Phil Fisher, and colleagues found a link between children from low-income families and dysregulated cortisol levels. It’s not surprising when you consider that these kids are constantly exposed to health, wealth, and safety issues that mess with their stress responses during crucial developmental stages. This makes them victims of health concerns that go far beyond their “bad habits,” as leading experts Felltti and Anda would agree: “Bad behavior only constitutes 50% of diseases.”

So, it might not just be “you” or “them” falling off the wagon when it comes to a healthy diet and sleep habits. Instead, it could be the “past you”—the “ex you” that survived traumas and now carries PTSD or CPTSD. Human development is a blend of biology and experience, which highlights the link between PTSD/CPTSD and harmful habits. The first step toward recovery is to educate yourself. You could start by browsing the topic online or talking to someone in the health department, like Dr. Payal Patel-Dovlatabadi or William Miller. And if you’re not a fan of discussions, why not read a book like I did? The Deepest Well by Nadine Burke can offer a better understanding and help you appreciate yourself without harsh judgments—even if you do find yourself compulsively ordering from Culver’s every now and then.