Sleeping less than seven hours a night would increase the risk of binging and snacking, especially at night.
- Those who are sleep deprived are more likely to snack at night.
- Not getting enough sleep also leads to turning to foods with higher calories and lower nutritional value.
To be at your best, sleeping well is more important than sleeping a lot. A bad night’s sleep is harmful to the proper functioning of the body and it only takes three bad nights to go completely haywire. A new research, published on 1er September in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dieteticsreveals that too short a night leads to making poor food decisions by favoring products rich in carbohydrates, added sugars or fats.
Nibble at night, this scourge
American researchers at Ohio State University, who analyzed data from nearly 20,000 adults, identified a link between sleeping less than seven hours and a propensity to favor junk food the next day. They found no difference in the type of non-meal food consumed between those who slept well and those who lacked sleep, but found that participants who slept less tended to eat more calories per day.
What emerges from this study is the bad habit of those who are sleep deprived of snacking at night. “At night we drink our calories and eat a lot of prepared foodsunderlines Christopher Taylor, lead author of the study. Not only do we not sleep when we stay up late, but we adopt all these obesity-related behaviors: lack of physical activity, increased screen time, poor food choices. This highlights the importance of meeting or not meeting sleep recommendations.”
Lack of sleep associated with many health problems
Sleep recommendations suggest getting around seven hours of sleep per night to support optimal health. Sleeping less than recommended is associated with a higher risk of several health problems such as weight gain and obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. “We know that lack of sleep is linked to obesity on a larger scale, but it’s all those little behaviors that are embedded in how it happens that are telling.”, adds Christopher Taylor.
Snacking times differ depending on sleep
For this study, researchers looked at data from 19,650 American adults between the ages of 20 and 60 who participated from 2007 to 2018 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This collected details of each participant’s daily diet, not only what, but also when all foods were eaten. This study also collected data on the amount of sleep of each volunteer. Three snacking time slots were established for the analysis: 2:00 a.m. to 11:59 a.m. in the morning, 12 p.m. to 5:59 p.m. in the afternoon and 6 p.m. to 1:59 a.m. in the evening.
Statistical analysis showed that almost everyone (95.5%) ate at least one snack per day, and more than 50% of snack calories among all participants came from two broad categories which included sodas and beverages. energy drinks and chips, pretzels, cookies and pastries. Those who did not meet sleep recommendations were more likely to eat a morning snack and less likely to eat an afternoon snack. Furthermore, they consumed larger quantities of snacks containing more calories and less nutritional value.
“The longer we stay awake, the more opportunities we have to eatconcluded Christopher Taylor. And at night, those calories come from snacks and sweets. Every time we make these decisions, we introduce calories and things linked to an increased risk of chronic disease.. Even if you’re in bed trying to fall asleep, at least you’re not in the kitchen eating, so if you can get into bed, that’s a place to start.”