People who don't get enough sleep have trouble controlling what and how much they eat

Sep 6, 2013 19:46 GMT  ·  By
Lack of sleep makes it more difficult for people to control what and how much they eat, researchers say
   Lack of sleep makes it more difficult for people to control what and how much they eat, researchers say

Besides having an increased appetite, people who don't get enough sleep have less willpower than well-rested individuals, scientists at the Uppsala University in Sweden argue.

This means that, on the long run, they are more likely to put on weight, sometimes even up to the point where they qualify as obese.

In order to investigate how sleep deprivation influences people's eating behavior, the researchers asked the help of 14 volunteers, sources say.

These individuals were all men, and none of them qualified as either overweight or obese.

In the first stage of the experiment, the scientists asked these people not to sleep for an entire night. The morning after, they offered them breakfast and then sent them shopping for groceries.

Despite having just eaten, the men all ended up purchasing a fifth more food than they normally would have. What's more, they opted for items that packed quite a lot of calories.

The researchers theorize this happened not only because sleep deprivation ups the levels of a hormone that has previously been documented to boost hunger, but also because lack of sleep influences decision-making in a negative way.

More precisely, it curbs willpower and it makes it more difficult for people to pay attention to what and how much they eat.

Commenting on the outcome of this experiment, researcher Colin Chapman stated as follows:

“We hypothesized that sleep deprivation's impact on hunger and decision making would make for the 'perfect storm' with regard to shopping and food purchasing, leaving individuals hungrier and less capable of employing self-control and higher-level decision-making processes to avoid making impulsive, calorie-driven purchases.”

“Our finding provides a strong rationale for suggesting that patients with concerns regarding caloric intake and weight gain maintain a healthy, normal sleep schedule,” the specialists further argued.

A detailed account of this investigation and its findings is made available to the public in a recent issue of the journal Obesity.