If you noticed you’ve been feeling particularly ravenous all the time and can’t resist the cravings, you might want to assess your sleeping habits, new research suggests.
The less sleep you get, the more you eat, according to a study by researchers at the University of Nebraska and published in the Journal of Health Psychology.
This is due to hormones that control your eating habits, which are altered by a lack of sleep, making you feel hungry even if you might not be. Levels of ghrellin (the ‘hunger hormone’) are higher in people who lack proper sleep, research suggests.
The amount of food that you eat can be influenced by many factors including biological, emotional, and environmental, according to the researchers. For example, the emotional stress of being tired and not having enough sleep can lead to comfort eating to feel better or regain energy.
Over-eating can lead to health problems such as including obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, so keeping tabs on your sleep health can also contribute to keeping these health issues at bay in the long run.
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Lack of sleep means you have no energy.
Food means more energy, which is why some people drink more coffee after a bad nights sleep