If you sleep too fast cravings for fattening

Little sleep makes food cravings

06/14/2012

Those who sleep too little have more appetite for fattening. The results of two studies by US researchers, most recently in the context of „SLEEP 2012”, The Annual Meeting of Associated Professional Sleep Societies, were unveiled in Boston. Accordingly, sleep deprivation and obesity are often related.

There is a connection between lack of sleep and obesity
People who sleep too little have more appetite for unhealthy eating. Sleep deprivation activates certain reward centers in the brain that call for the reward effect of calorie bombs. In addition, superior brain functions, which are responsible for rational decisions, impaired. However, areas related to the instinct continue to function normally. Consequently, decisions made with the mind - such as resisting the craving for unhealthy food - can not be effectively or only partially addressed. If the person gets enough sleep, the brain areas function normally, so that no excessive desire for unhealthy food arises. US researchers have discovered the link between sleep deprivation and overweight using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). „Our findings suggest that individuals with limited sleep find unhealthy foods highly conspicuous and rewarding“, reports Marie-Pierre St-Onge from Columbia University Medical Center. This results in the increased consumption of these foods and the typical cravings.

For their study, St-Onge and her colleagues analyzed the brain activity of 25 women and men who were shown images of healthy and unhealthy foods. The fMRI scans were taken when the subjects slept for a maximum of four hours each, and five nights after sleeping up to nine hours. The researchers compared the images and found that the same brain areas that were active in viewing the images of unhealthy food were not active in the images of healthy foods. However, this is a lack of sleep limited neuronal pattern, stressed St-Onge. The results would suggest that the propensity to resist unhealthy eating is less pronounced in sleep deprivation than after adequate sleep.

Sleep deprivation affects brain areas for rational decisions
Stephanie Greer from the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley reported on the second study at the annual meeting: „Our goal was to find out if certain brain regions involved in the processing of dietary stimuli are affected by sleep deprivation.“ Twenty-two healthy adults were interviewed in two sessions about their desire for different foods while performing fMRI scans. While the subjects had slept sufficiently before one session, they appeared to the other after they had not got enough sleep.

It was found that sleep deprivation had a significant effect on the activity of the frontal lobe in the brain. This area is instrumental in behavioral control and complex decision-making. The brain regions associated with basic reward responses, on the other hand, were unaffected. According to Greer, sleep deprivation can lead to higher brain functions being unable to counteract the instinct-driven desire. „These findings shed light on how the brain is affected by sleep deprivation, leading to the selection of unsuitable foods.“

Lack of sleep slows down metabolism
Orfeu Buxton of Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston and his team recently found that sleep deprivation favors pancreatic under-functioning. People who work in shifts or often have to go through intercontinental flights are therefore at increased risk for type II diabetes. Lack of sleep and a shift in the day-night rhythm, according to scientists, disrupt the internal clock. As a result, the pancreas can only produce a smaller amount of insulin and concentrate the sugar in the blood. The increased blood sugar level could in turn trigger diabetes. In addition, the researchers found that the subjects had a slowed metabolism at rest, which may favor the development of obesity. (Ag)

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Picture: berwis