Sleep or Else
- 11:30 am |
Scientists have repeatedly shown that there’s a link between sleep deprivation and obesity. When you cut back on sleep, your body produces less leptin, a hormone that helps regulate appetite and metabolism, and more ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger. UC Berkeley scientists studied how sleep affects activity in the brain’s frontal lobe, which controls behavior, and found that lack of sleep impairs our capacity to evaluate which foods are best for us.
But weight control isn’t the only reason to get a full night’s rest. Researchers have consistently found that getting enough sleep is correlated with feeling happier. A University of Michigan study determined that earning $60,000 more a year has less effect on daily happiness than getting just one additional hour of sleep each night. And researchers used fMRI to monitor brain activity of sleep-deprived volunteers while they looked at images. Compared with those who got a normal amount of sleep, the tired group was over 60 percent more sensitive to negative emotional stimuli. So if your diet and exercise plan doesn’t seem to be working and you’re irritable, try going to bed an hour or two earlier tonight. Your waistline (and your family and coworkers) will thank you.