There has been a growing tome of research on the link between lack of sleep, or lack of quality of sleep, and obesity or just being overweight that shows a strong correlation between the two. Apparently people who don’t get enough sleep actually tend to be overweight more than people who get the right amount of sleep, which is eight hours.

However, on the flip side, you also want to make sure you are not getting too much sleep, since this can also turn your metabolism on low because you are spending too much time in slumber and not enough time up and about and moving around, burning more calories.

Most studies have really been general, showing a general link between sleep deprivation and obesity, but the latest research study shows that teenagers who don’t get enough sleep actually tend to eat more fatty foods than their teen counterparts who get enough sleep every night.  That correlation also showed that those same sleep deprived teens tended to be overweight as well.

The teenagers who got enough sleep tended to rely more on carbohydrates for their food sources, while teens who didn’t get their ample zzz’s tended to rely more on dietary fat, or at least to crave it more than carbs.  It’s not totally clear on why there is a link between obesity, craving more fatty foods, and lack of sleep, but I do have my own little totally non scientific, but common sense theory.

It makes sense that those who are sleep deprived would crave and eat more fatty foods, because we tend to crave foods that will fuel us for a longer time when we are sleep deprived. Sleep provides fuel, it regenerates us for the next day every night, and when we don’t have adequate fuel, perhaps our bodies know somehow that carbs will just provide us with shorter term, but more intense, energy, while fat takes longer to burn through.

It also makes sense because when I look at my earlier years, and even into my college, years, when I think about those nights where I pulled an all nighter or maybe I drank too much and had really poor quality of sleep, all I wanted to do the next day was binge on fattening, heavy foods.

It just feels more natural to eat those kinds of foods, they are the only thing that seems to really make you feel better for some reason when you haven’t had enough sleep.  Who knows why the body works the way it does, but suffice it to say that you should always get your sleep every night, and make sure it’s good sleep too, because it helps you to eat healthier every day and maintain your weight more easily – most likely!

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