Before you dive into that midnight snack, check to be sure you’re actually hungry.

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RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—It has happened to the best of us—3 a.m. rolls around, and the kitchen suddenly becomes an all-night café, complete with a smorgasbord of goodies to quell our nocturnal hunger. A postmidnight meal here or there is harmless, but fitting the description of a chronic night eater means you run a higher risk of being obese, according to a study published this month in the journal Obesity. And that’s linked to all sorts of problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and even cancer. The good news is you can adjust your eating habits to keep nighttime fried raids to a minimum.

THE DETAILS: Swedish researchers investigated night eating to see if it is linked to body-mass index (BMI), eating disorders, and/or sleep problems by comparing obese and nonobese twins. For this study of more than 20,000 people, night eating was defined as getting out of bed at least one night a week to eat, or eating at least 25 percent of your daily calories after dinner. Contradicting previous studies, this study found that men were more likely to engage in night eating than women. The obese men were also more prone to night eating, with 8.4 percent of them running for midnight snacks, compared to 3.8 percent of the normal-weight men. For the normal-weight and obese women, the prevalence of night eating was 2.8 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively. Night eating was also associated with higher risk of binge eating and sleep problems in both the men and women.

WHAT IT MEANS: Midnight snacking is an easy habit to get into, but do it too often and those nighttime calories could add up to unhealthy weight gain.

Here’s how to avoid overindulging when the sun goes down: