How sleep affects eating

Sleep researchers have found that sleep deprivation (even a mild case of inadequate sleep) quickly disrupts normal levels of the appetite-regulating hormones: Increasing the levels of a hunger hormone (ghrelin) while decreasing levels of a hormone that makes you feel full (leptin). The effects can set the stage for overeating and weight gain.

"It's amazing how much people's sleep is reflected in the hormones in their blood," says Emmanuel Mignot, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Stanford University. Sleep-deprived people, he believes, eat more because they're hungrier, they're awake longer and may be tempted by foods everywhere they go.

"When you're sleep-deprived, you may overeat well in excess of the caloric demands, and, therefore, sleep loss is probably also a risk factor for weight gain and obesity," warns Van Cauter.

This could explain why when we're feeling fatigued, we don’t always make healthy food choices: We eat junk food as a pick-me-up during the day when we're feeling sleepy, fail to stick to our healthy eating plan, and snack right before bedtime.

The bottom line? Most experts agree that logging in an extra couple of hours of sleep each night isn't a bad idea, especially if you're trying to lose weight and if you get six hours of sleep of less a night. You may just discover that you aren't as hungry or you don't crave high-calorie foods anymore.