See How Sleep Can Affect Your Food Choices.

A new study shows that how you sleep can affect how you eat. People who have trouble sleeping tend to choose more unhealthy and fatty foods than their well rested counterparts.

According to the study published in MyHealthNewsDaily article ‘’ Why we go for doughnuts when we’re sleep-deprived’’, participants looked at pictures of food while their brains were being scanned by the researchers. Those who were sleep –deprived lit up their ‘’reward center’’ more when they saw unhealthy foods. While the ‘’reward center ‘’ lit up for healthy foods more often in people who have been getting a good night sleep.

We know from previous studies that catching up on sleep can help burn more calories. Now we learn that sleep is also responsible for our eating behavior.

So a proper sleep plays an important role in a healthy diet, and a healthier diet has a positive impact on how well we sleep.

So next time you choose to go for the French fries instead of a salad, ask yourself how well did I sleep last night?

To read the complete article click on the link below:

http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/12/12188651-why-we-go-for-doughnuts-when-were-sleep-deprived?lite

--
Important:
The Sleep Blog does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Instead, this website provides general information for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of a qualified health care provider if you have questions or concerns regarding any medical condition or treatment.

40 thoughts on “See How Sleep Can Affect Your Food Choices.”

  1. please check out this article I wrote about this new great app that makes it easier to go to bed.

    Sleep Bug, the Sleeping App that Rocks everyone including Babies to Sleep

    There are a lot of apps out there that claim to wake you up in the morning, and there are some apps out there that claim to help you go to bed at night. Sleep Bug is the only app out there that is available on four different platforms (iPhone, iPad, iPod, and windows phone 7 smartphones) that not only claim to help you fall asleep but ensures you will in a peaceful manner. This app is for grownups, teenagers, kids and most important of all, babies.
    If you an adult, chances are that you have a job that starts early in the morning. As a result, getting enough rest the night before is essential to prevent you from taking short naps at work, which could result in an overall decrease in your work output. Having this app will help you go to bed in a peaceful manner, and will have you up and refreshed the next morning. If you are a parent, you can recommend Sleep Bug to your children or love ones.
    We all love babies, and having one brings about the greatest feeling in the world, but their non stop crying can be a little irritating and can also make it harder to go to bed. Fortunately, Sleep Bug can also be used for babies. Mom and Dad can share a phone which has Sleep Bug installed, and their baby can use the other phone which also has Sleep Bug installed. Sleep Bug has a variety of sound options; each having its own list of variation. This creates an opening for trial and error to see which sound combination works best for the baby. If you want to peacefully go to sleep every night and wake up refreshed every single morning, then Sleep Bug is the App to have. You can learn more about the app and also download it from their official website- http://www.sleepbug.net.

    1. I’m glad that you are seeing the light at the end of the tnneul. It also sounds as though you have a good plan worked out..Sometimes, as woman, I think we end up chasing our tails, trying to do it all and we end up not taking care of ourselves and feeling guilty because we haven’t been able to do all that we thought we should do. It becomes a vicious cycle after awhile..Good on you for figuring it out and giving yourself some time to take care of you. 🙂

  2. I’ve definitely found this to be true. I think it’s actually a two-way thing: sleep influences food choices and vice versa. If you’re feeling tired and lacking energy, you go for junk food. But if you eat badly, it makes you sleep badly too! It can be a hard cycle to get out of.

  3. Sleep deprivation also affects the hormones that control our perception of hunger, so not only do we crave more “rewarding” foods, but we also have a more difficult time realizing that we are full. Very interesting how sleep affects our physical well being.

  4. Wow, it is good to know about this blog, I really have got a lot from this article about sleep deprivation and the food we eat if we have slept less than we should have had. It is just now that I have found out that sleep can definitely affect our diet choices.

  5. Its interesting to know that sleep can affect our eating patterns. I think about 8 hours is the perfect amount of sleep. Do this and and maintain a healthy diet and you cant go wrong.

  6. I agree that sleeping well at night will help us to pick the right food to eat. Sleep deprived person is always stress, irritable and unhleathy due to the reason that they need more sleep to regenerate tissues and muscles. So having no sleep in two days will make you feel like your wasted and floating on air.

  7. The finding that people with less sleep eat more calories WITHOUT REALIZING they are is very interesting. Sleep deprivation has so many deleterious effects, yet insomniacs often have performance anxiety which makes insomnia worse. Relaxation, distraction are often helpful. Also Intensive Sleep Retraining (Harris 2007, 2012) shows promise.

    Good blog site, thanks.

    Harp

  8. Certainly when I don’t sleep well I eat a lot bad foods and even overeat, I think that sleeping well will help making better food choices.

  9. Great article,

    I also find that eating the rights types of foods (natural fruits and veggies) has a huge impact on how well you sleep and the quality of sleep you get.

    Changes are if you eat healthy you will need less hours of sleep and get a much more restfull sleep as well.

  10. Enjoying finding much of your content as good reference sources. Thanks for the share on reverse of what most expect food on sleep versus your spin onn sleeping impacts your diet. Nice! Michael

  11. Shouldn’t be too much surprise that if a person gets two hours of sleep, she or he is probably going to desire sugar, coffee, anything that will give us a jolt to get going in the morning. The study could’ve just as easily been taken by asking people when they come out of 711 in the morning with coffee and doughnuts in their hands if they had a bad sleep last night.

  12. That explains how you choose a good food for diet. Means when you deprived your self from sleep you’re craving only for unhealthy diet foods for your body. Great explanation so far now I know why I always eat burgers…

  13. That’s quite interesting statement and one that explains a lot.

    I always thought it’s other way around: that food effects your sleep! Will need to have a closer look and do mine own research on this.

    Well, live and learn every day… 🙂

  14. I definitely notice that eating clean improves my sleep. The whole body is connected in many ways. You’ll never experience true health until you see the big picture. Great post!

  15. Thanks for sharing this! My problem however is that not only I sleep bad…. my husband snores like a mad man! Changing diet is definitely something I’ll be looking to see if it helps me sleep deeper to avoid the annoying snoring but for the moment it’s either a guest room or sofa for me!! I’ve already seen a specialist with my husband and they recommended many different products that he can try but he just is ignoring it and I would hate to see our marriage being jeopardised because of something silly as this so open to improve my sleep if that only helps me fall and stay a sleep till the alarm goes off wit ha help of a diet alone…

  16. HomyLink Mattress : 9-Zone Orthopaedic ergonomic design, good for body shaping, all with fresh material, non-toxic, eco-friendly, comfortable and breathable, guarantee your health, exquisite modern outlook appearance design, decorate your room with good taste, super good cost performance. Master advanced technology and strict execute quality control.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *