It’s late at night, you’ve resisted the urge to snack through five episodes of ’Stranger Things’, but now the fridge is calling you! Do you ignore it, or do you give in?

Cravings aren’t just something that women experience throughout pregnancy. We all find ourselves yearning for a certain food or drink from time to time – whether that’s something healthy or not. But why is this, and what can we do to resist or stop these cravings?

Why do we have cravings?

The reason we have a strong desire to eat or drink something is quite often due to our brain and hormones. The consumption of sugary, salty or fatty foods triggers the release of the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine, which means your brain tells you to go back for more of the same.

Feelings of boredom, sadness, anxiety or fatigue can all have us looking for a ‘pick me up’ or simply an activity to fill time – cue raiding the kitchen for something to eat, or rushing to the supermarket and leaving with a trolley full of snacks.

The release of dopamine obtained after fulfilling a food craving has even been compared to drug addiction, as the neural pathway is similar in both behaviours.

Cravings have also been linked to nutritional deficiencies, though most of the time this isn’t the case. You may have been told that if you’re craving a big, juicy steak you lack iron in your diet, or that if you’re craving chocolate you are deficient in magnesium. While this may be the case, it’s unlikely.

And of course, the females among us suffer from cravings at certain times of our monthly cycle, as well as during pregnancy, in part due to hormonal imbalances.

How can we deal with them?

Managing your food cravings can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. There are several tactics you could employ in order to curb your desire to dive head-first into the bag of crisps that’s been staring at you all day.

The simplest of these is to rid your house of those food and drink items that cause you grief. Having a fridge and cupboards stocked with healthy snacks such as fruit, vegetables, dark chocolate, nuts and even sugar-free chewing gum, will mean there’s always something to snack on when you feel hungry. And if you choose not to indulge in these things, the chances are you weren’t hungry at all – just bored or feeling a little bit ‘flat’.

Regular exercise can also help to balance your hormones and reduce the risk of wanting something ‘naughty’. Moving your body – and better still being out in the fresh air – increases production of dopamine in the brain, meaning you don’t have to source it elsewhere via food.

The harsh reality is that constantly giving in to your cravings isn’t doing you any favours – if you keep eating your favourite treat, the threshold of the reward is raised each time, meaning it will take more and more of the treat to gain satisfaction. Going ‘cold turkey’ may be your best option if you’re an ‘all or nothing’ kind of person.

If you’re struggling to cut out your food or drink weakness completely but feel you can keep some semblance of self control, simply have a small amount of it instead. Allowing yourself a square of chocolate when you feel you need it is better than fighting the urge, only to give in and inhale the whole bar in one sitting!

Ultimately, knowing that you’re not the only one who suffers from cravings should be of some comfort. Just as we all have good days and bad days, sometimes you will give in to your cravings, and sometimes you will be victorious in fighting temptation.