The less you sleep, the more you eat

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-06/sp-tly060115.php

Public Release: 1-Jun-2015
SAGE Publications

Factors influencing food intake have, and continue to be, a hotly contested subject. A new paper published today in the SAGE journal, Journal of Health Psychology (JHP), suggests that disrupted sleep could be one factor contributing to excessive food intake and thus leading to long term chronic health damage in both adults and children.

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Food intake is driven by biological, emotional, cognitive and environmental factors. Though diet is important to consider in the treatment for chronic health disorders associated with food intake, a closer look should be given to how sleep affects these factors. Lundahl and Nelson argue that these mechanisms are heavily altered and influenced by sleep patterns. For example, after a bad night's sleep, the hormone controlling appetite is affected, emotional stress is greater, more food is desired to compensate for lack of energy and impulsivity is increased, all of which affect the amount of food that you would consume in a day.

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