Poor Sleep Habits Linked To Risk Of Becoming Overweight

European researchers who examined the regions in the brain involved in appetite sensation found that they are affected by acute sleep loss. Using magnetic imaging (fMRI), the researchers studied the brains of 12 normal-weight males as they looked at images of foods, then compared the results after a night with normal sleep with those obtained after one night without sleep. They found that a single night of total sleep loss curbed energy expenditure the next morning. In addition, subjects had increased levels of hunger, which indicates that an acute lack of sleep may affect human's food perception. The researchers conclude that poor sleep habits can affect people's risk of becoming overweight in the long run.