Junk Food Craving When Deprived Of Sleep Could Lead To Obesity

Obesity could be caused by deprivation of sleep which leads to a craving for unhealthy food.

According to a new study to understand the link between sleep restriction and obesity, the sight of unhealthy food during a period of sleep restriction activated reward centers in the brain that were less active when participants had enough sleep.

25 men and women of normal weight were divided into two groups where one group's sleep was restricted to four hours for five nights and the second group were allowed to continue sleeping upto nine hours.

MRIs of their brains were taken whilst they looked at images of healthy and unhealthy foods and the results were compared.
The sleep deprived group ate more overall and consumed more fat compared to those who had regular sleep.

The study's principal investigator noted that "The unhealthy food response was a neuronal pattern specific to restricted sleep. This may suggest greater propensity to succumb to unhealthy foods when one is sleep restricted."

This study confirms previous research that also showed that sleep deprivation leads to increased food consumption, particularly sweet and salty food in otherwise healthy people.