Inside the Strange World of Sleep Eaters

Open wide for buttered cigarettes, Brillo pads, and lots of gooey junk food.

By Kathleen McAuliffe
Aug 2, 2007 5:00 AMNov 12, 2019 6:16 AM

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As a young teen, Lynne Romano recalls awakening to find turned-over jars of ravioli sauce dripping down her dresser or mustard-smeared potato chips scattered around her room. How they got there was a total mystery to her. “Then my mother started getting mad at me for messing up the kitchen at night,” she says. “I had no idea I was getting up in my sleep and eating.”

The problem worsened with age. “I’ve woken up with candy wrappers all over my bedroom floor,” says Romano, now a 51-year-old mother of two living in Andover, Massachusetts. “I’ve found plates on the floor that I have to be careful not to step on when I get up.”

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