Less Sleep May Trigger More Snacking

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sleepFrom Your Health Journal…..”A very good article on the Health.com web site via HealthDay News entitled Less Sleep May Trigger More Snacking, Calories. Sleep is a very important component to good health. It helps us rest and recharge for the next day, strengthens our immune system. gives vital organs a chance to rest, improves cognitive skills, reduces stress, and keeps many of our bodies chemical levels balanced. Adequate sleep also keeps hormones related to appetite stable. If we do not get enough sleep, sometimes our bodies and brain do not work together, and we do not realize our ‘bellies’ are full. So, we tend to eat more. Getting adequate sleep allows our body and brain to team up so we know when to stop eating. In a recent study, participants whose sleep was limited to five hours burned 5 percent more energy than those who could sleep for nine hours, but they consumed 6 percent more calories. Please visit the Health.com web site (link provided below) to read the complete article.”

From the article…..

Too little sleep with unlimited food availability leads to too much eating and weight gain, according to a small new study.

“I don’t think extra sleep by itself is going to lead to weight loss,” Kenneth Wright, director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said in a university news release. “Problems with weight gain and obesity are much more complex than that. But I think it could help.”

Wright and colleagues monitored 16 young, lean, healthy male and female adults who lived for about two weeks at the University of Colorado Hospital, which has a sleep suite. For the first three days, all the participants had the opportunity to sleep nine hours a night and were given meals that contained only enough calories to maintain their weight.

For the next five-day period, the participants were split into two groups. One group’s sleep was limited to five hours a night, while the other group could sleep for nine hours. Both groups were offered larger meals and had access to healthy and unhealthy snacks throughout the day. After those five days, the groups switched.

On average, participants whose sleep was limited to five hours burned 5 percent more energy than those who could sleep for nine hours, but they consumed 6 percent more calories.

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