London: People with poor sleeping habit eat more than those who have normal sleep, increasing the risk of obesity, a new study by Swedish researchers has found.
Uppsala University researchers have found that sleep-deprived people select greater portion sizes of energy-dense snacks and meals than they do after one night of normal sleep, the Science Daily reported.
The findings were published in Psycho-Neuroendocrinology.
In a previous article, published in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, the researchers from the Department of Neuroscience at Uppsala University have shown that a single night of total sleep loss in young normal weight men increases the activation of a brain region involved in a desire to eat.
In the new study, Pleunie Hogenkamp and Christian Benedict, and their colleagues, have systematically examined whether sleep-deprived people select greater portion sizes of energy-dense snacks and meals under buffet-like conditions.
For the study 16 normal-weight males were asked to select their ideal portion sizes of 7 meal and 6 snack items, in both hungry and sated conditions.
In one condition, they were sleep-deprived, in the other condition they had a night with approximately 8 hours sleep.
"After a night of total sleep loss, these males chose greater portion sizes of the energy-dense foods. Interestingly, they did so both before and after a breakfast, suggesting that sleep deprivation enhances food intake regardless of satiety," Hogenkamp was quoted as saying.
They said insufficient sleep is a growing problem in modern society, which can lead to weight problems and eating disorders in the future.
PTI
