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Junk Food Cravings Linked To a Lack of Sleep, Study Suggests (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Writing in the Journal of Neuroscience, Peters and colleagues describe how they recruited 32 healthy men aged between 19 and 33 and gave all of them the same dinner of pasta and veal, an apple and a strawberry yoghurt. Participants were then either sent home to bed wearing a sleep-tracking device, or kept awake in the laboratory all night with activities including parlor games. All returned the next morning to have their hunger and appetite rated, while 29 of the men had their levels of blood sugar measured, as well as levels of certain hormones linked to stress and appetite. Participants also took part in a game in which they were presented with pictures of 24 snack food items, such as chocolate bars, and 24 inedible items, including hats or mugs, and were first asked to rate how much they would be willing to pay for them on a scale. During a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan, they were asked to choose whether or not they would actually buy the object when its price was fixed -- an experiment that allowed researchers to look at participants' brain activity upon seeing pictures of food and other items. A week later, the experiment was repeated, with the participants who had previously stayed up allowed to sleep, and vice versa.
The results showed that whether sleep-deprived or not, participants were similarly hungry in the morning, and had similar levels of most hormones and blood sugar. However, when participants were sleep-deprived, they were willing to pay more for a food snack than when rested, and had higher levels in their blood of a substance called des-acyl ghrelin -- which is related to the "hunger hormone" ghrelin, though its function is not clear. The fMRI results showed that when sleep-deprived, participants had greater activity in the brain's amygdala (where food rewards are processed) when food images were shown, and a stronger link between the price participants would pay for food and activity in the hypothalamus (which is involved in regulating consumption). Interactions between these two regions increased compared with when participants had slept.
The results showed that whether sleep-deprived or not, participants were similarly hungry in the morning, and had similar levels of most hormones and blood sugar. However, when participants were sleep-deprived, they were willing to pay more for a food snack than when rested, and had higher levels in their blood of a substance called des-acyl ghrelin -- which is related to the "hunger hormone" ghrelin, though its function is not clear. The fMRI results showed that when sleep-deprived, participants had greater activity in the brain's amygdala (where food rewards are processed) when food images were shown, and a stronger link between the price participants would pay for food and activity in the hypothalamus (which is involved in regulating consumption). Interactions between these two regions increased compared with when participants had slept.
men aged between 19 and 33
Are likely to be using weed!
I know for a fact that THC usage increases junk food cravings by 1,000%
Science confirms, people need to sleep or bad shit happens to them. Exactly how isn't clear nor does it fucking matter, you're not going to put sleep in a pill or somehow make it not needed. It's way too complex to emulate synthetically.
I like to eat Cheetos and drink Mountain Dew while I play Fortnite from my parent's basement.
Then run your own study and prove them wrong if you're so certain. It's easy to claim someone is wrong from behind a keyboard.
I agree, this seems straight from the Captain Obvious Research Labs: if you don't get enough sleep, you make poor decisions.
Don't get me wrong, it's good to verify obvious or likely outcomes, but perhaps such results are not newsworthy. A more extreme example: "Sleep-deprived people are more likely to have romance with non-mammals." (Then again, such a study itself may make news regardless of the results.)
Table-ized A.I.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
That isn't my takeaway here. They mention they tested them against food and non-food items. They only really mention their reaction to food items. You could infer that means their reactions to the non-food items was relatively normal between the groups. It seems like one of the physiological responses to lack of sleep is to eat. We already have studies showing the effects of sleep deprivation on the metabolism. We've also had some studies on shopping while hungry and what we're more likely to target. This really just seems to be more of the same findings.
Scientific evidence is better than anecdotes. And doing something about it (assuming you consider it a problem) requires starting with facts.
This is news?
Researcher have also found that if you put one foot in a tub a hot water and the other foot in a tub of cold water the subject reports have both hot and cold feet.
Certainly diminished inhibition seems to be a factor but that bit about the "hunger hormone" sounds interesting. Is the body trying to compensate for low energy from lack of sleep by getting some easily processed calories?
I stole this Sig
This really doesn't say much about junk food, in particular. Obviously, being awake takes more energy than being asleep, so it makes sense that they want more food.
"The study also did not compare the participants’ responses to healthy food."
Points #2 and #3 do not make the study flawed; they merely limit the group to which the findings apply.
Point #1 is a valid concern, but the group size us large enough for a preliminary study.
It's perfectly fine to point out that followup studies need to be done with a much larger and preferably more diverse group before we can make any definite conclusions ... but that doesn't make this study inherently flawed.
Also, anecdotally, their results match what I would expect. I would definitely like to see a larger followup study, though.
Creimer isn't here, man.
I mean really? Someone paid to sponsor this quality of research? Who? A snacks company?
When you're needy (like needing sleep), you'll try to fulfill your needs with anything (like food). If you want to loose weight, fulfill your needs, including non-hunger needs.