Library › Night snacking

The snack you feel you've earned

After a long day of looking after work, family and everything else, an evening treat can feel like the only thing that's just for you.

If that's you, you might be the Reward Chaser. Your snack feels like something you've earned for getting through the day.

Wanting a reward is healthy

Rewards are how we keep going. The question isn't whether you deserve one (you do). It's whether this particular reward still works for you, or whether it leaves you feeling worse by bedtime.

Why the snack became the reward

Food is quick, easy and always there. When the day leaves no time for anything else that feels good, the snack becomes the default treat. It isn't that you love snacks more than anything else. It's that everything else takes more effort to reach at 9pm.

Build a new treat list

Write down five things that genuinely feel like a treat to you and take less than 20 minutes. For example:

• a long shower or bath with music on
• one episode of a show you only watch at this time
• 10 minutes of a book, a game or a hobby that's just yours
• a call with someone who makes you laugh
• sitting outside with a caffeine-free warm drink

Then, when the "I deserve it" feeling arrives, choose from the list first. You still get your reward. You just get to pick it.

And if you still want the snack?

Have it, slowly and without guilt. A treat eaten on purpose is part of a kind evening. The aim is more choice, not a list of rules.

Next guide: Which need does your snacking meet?