Lack Of Zzzzs May Lead To Poor Food Choices
Have you ever experienced less control over your food choices, like selecting donuts for breakfast even if this is something you would not usually do, after a sleepless night? New studies indicate that it’s not all in your head. According to two new studies, sleep deprivation impairs the “food choice” region of the brain resulting in less-than-optimal food selection. One of the researchers, Stephanie M. Greer, PhD, stated that, “We think this is one potential mechanism related to the overall link between sleep deprivation and obesity.”
These studies showed that sleep deprivation significantly impairs brain activity in the region that controls behavior and complex decision making, such as food selection. In other words, when people have not had adequate sleep, they don’t take health information into consideration when deciding what to eat.
In a world in which we are constantly confronted with both healthy and not-so-healthy food choices, a lack of control due to chronic sleeplessness can have a significant impact on our weight.
Read the related newsletter: On Track With Barix: 2008 10 Sleep and Obesity
Read the entire article on Medscape Today.
