Sleep deprived people eat 300 cals more a day than those who

janesmith1

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011/03/Sleep-deprived-people-eat-300-more-calories-a-day/45227686/1

Sleep-deprived people eat 300 more calories a day
By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY

Updated 2d 1h ago
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When people are sleep-deprived, they eat almost 300 calories a day more than when they are well-rested. And ice cream is one of their favorite foods to eat when they're tired, a new study shows.

Lack of sleep can lead to overeating and obesity.

By Hemera Technologies, Jupiter Images.com

Lack of sleep can lead to overeating and obesity.

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By Hemera Technologies, Jupiter Images.com

Lack of sleep can lead to overeating and obesity.

Scientists have known for years that too little shut-eye can lead to weight gain and obesity.

So researchers at Columbia University decided to find out whether people actually consume more when they are sleep-deprived vs. well-rested.

They recruited 26 normal-weight men and women who routinely slept between seven and nine hours a night. The participants came into an inpatient hospital-like setting for six days on two different occasions. Half slept four hours a night for six nights. The other half slept for nine hours a night for six nights.

For the first days, they received a portion-controlled diet, but the last two days they could eat as much as they wanted from food they chose themselves. The entire procedure was repeated a second time with people getting a different amount of sleep.

Findings, reported Wednesday at an American Heart Association meeting in Atlanta:

•Participants consumed an average of 296 calories more when they were sleep-deprived compared with when they were well-rested.

•When women were sleep-deprived they ate an average 329 more calories a day vs. when they were well-rested; men ate 263 more calories.

•Overall, most of the extra calories came from high-fat foods such as ice cream and fast foods.

•When women were sleep-deprived, they ate an average of about 31 more fat grams a day. Men's fat intake didn't climb that much.

"Ice cream stood out as the preferred food during the sleep-deprived state," says lead author Marie-Pierre St-Onge, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition medicine at Columbia. "Sleep deprivation makes you more susceptible to overeating, so that can be something to consider when you're trying to lose weight."

This confirms other research that short sleep duration is associated with eating more and could lead to obesity and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, St-Onge says.

WHY: Sleep Matters (blog)

She says one other study also found that sleep-deprived adults ate almost 300 calories more a day than those who were well-rested.

St-Onge is still analyzing the data on how the sleep deprivation may affect appetite hormones.

However, other studies show that sleep-deprived people have higher levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger, and lower levels of leptin, a fullness hormone, than people who are well-rested.

University of Chicago sleep researcher Eve Van Cauter, a leading expert in this field, says that an additional 300 calories day "is a substantial increase in energy intake that, if maintained chronically, would lead to rapid and robust weight gain."

The reduction in sleep in this study "is pretty drastic but nonetheless occurs in real life under a number of situations, including among medical interns and residents who are known to pack on the pounds," she says.

Gina Lundberg, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association and a preventive cardiologist in private practice in Atlanta, says she thinks it's possible that sleep deprivation provides a "double whammy" for weight gain — that is, people not only eat more when they're tired but also may be less likely to exercise. "When you're tired, you're less motivated to exercise. You just want to go home and go to bed," she says.

Both the higher calorie and fat intake and possibly being less active could be detrimental to your heart over the long term, she adds.

4theking

Yep, weight loss is all about the hormones.....just as important as a caloric deficit but often overlooked!

crystal_sapphire

us poor shift workers

in for another night shift tonight! only slept 6 hours ahh

janesmith1

Can you buy black out curtains? You would not believe how those help!!! We bought ours at Penneys.