Why Your Crappy Job Is Making You Fat

If you’re feeling burnt out and overworked lately and you find you’re gaining weight, research suggests that there’s a connection between your fatigue and your desire to eat poorly.

Photo via HealthMango

Courtney Hutchinson, over at Psychology Today, discusses the connections between your circadian rhythm and diet issues. Currently many are stuck in crappy jobs and feel overworked. That lack of sleep can cause a whole bunch of problems, but it can also significantly impair your ability to avoid unhealthy snacking:

We definitely snack more when we’re sleepy. A University of Chicago study found that after two weeks of sleep restriction, normally healthy eaters ate an average of 200 more calories a day, all in snacks. These munchies were often high in carbohydrate content and were usually consumed between 7p.m. and 7a.m.-the worst time, waistband-wise, for needless eating.

It’s not just sleep deprivation that causes the problem, however. Overtaxing the brain is a cause as well, so when you’re working too hard and not sleeping enough, you’re pretty much asking for unwanted weight gain. While habits can be hard to change — especially when it comes to your diet — if you make a concentrated effort to get more sleep you may find that you’ll have less trouble curbing your desire to snack as well.

Mental Drain and Weight Gain | Psychology Today