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Sleep loss leads to greater appetite

Written by: David Castillo on April 29th, 2011

Sleep loss leads to greater appetite | read this item

College students are no strangers to burning midnight oil. The only problem is many are unaware of the health risks involved with losing sleep, especially in terms of gaining weight. A study by Columbia University New York Obesity Research Center’s Marie-Pierre St-Onge shows how people who sleep less 4 hours at night tend to eat more the following day.

St-Onge’s week-long study involved 14 men and 13 women who were subjected to both four and nine-hour sleep intervals. They were then given conventional meals the next day – vegetables, yogurt, frozen entrees, cookies, turkey sandwiches and bagels – and their caloric intake were recorded.

Study results show that participants who slept only 4 hours ate almost 300 calories more the following day. The males consumed 263 calories on average while females ate up to 329 calories after sleeping only four hours the previous night. St-Onge explains that “there have been epidemiological studies that have shown a link between sleep and obesity. I wanted to see if there was a potential causal effect.”

Source: Wildcat.arizona.edu