Is Your Lack of Sleep Making You Fat? Research Says Yes.

We’ve all heard how important sleep is.

Sure, when I was little, I hated going to bed and I fought it, but now that I’m an adult and always feel sleep-deprived, I don’t know what I was thinking for all those years!

Sleep makes you feel better, function better and recover better.

Turns out, there’s still another reason why you should start prioritizing your sleep schedule.

If you don’t, you just might see the effects on the scale and in the mirror, too.

The Study

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the effect of a single night of total sleep deprivation on food intake and morning energy expenditure.

Scientists examined 14 healthy, normal-weight males on 2 occasions during a regular 24-hour sleep-wake cycle (including 8 hours of nocturnal sleep) and a 24 hour period of continuous wakefulness.

Then they measured their morning energy expenditure and food intake throughout the day.

The Results

Following the sleepless night, the men used 20% less energy after eating.

Not only that, they also showed increased morning plasma ghrelin concentrations. In English: the subjects in the study all had more of the hormone that stimulates hunger.

These research findings show that just one night of sleep deprivation significantly reduces energy expenditure in the short-term.

That means that sleep may be even more important than we thought when it comes to regulating daytime energy expenditure.

This is just one more reason (among a long list of reasons) why you should make sure you’re getting the right amount of sleep every night.