It sounds like a crazy idea. Get more sleep, gain less weight (and maybe even lose some). New research indicates why that may be: when you don’t get enough sleep, you start to suck at controlling your impulses.
Photo by Sherri B.
The study from UC Berkeley found that after a poor night’s sleep, the parts of the brain associated with automatic behaviour were extra active, while the frontal lobes which affect self-control were more inhibited. The result? A groggy person will be more likely to do whatever their instinct says right in the moment, rather than make more conscious, healthy decisions:
“What we have discovered is that high-level brain regions required for complex judgments and decisions become blunted by a lack of sleep, while more primal brain structures that control motivation and desire are amplified.”
Of course, the idea isn’t exclusive to diet. A lack of sleep can affect any decision that you have to make consciously instead of instinctually. However, the researchers did find that the participants that weren’t well rested had higher cravings for junk food.
Why the Sleep-Deprived Crave Junk Food and Buy Higher Calorie Foods [PsyBlog]
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