J. Rusolo Ward

I was up most of the night with a sick child.  Now that I’m “awake” (more like moving in zombie mode), I’m starving.  It’s as if my body is saying to me, “You need extra energy, just keep eating so I can keep you moving.”

Have you ever noticed that when you’re tired you tend to eat more?  I thought it was just me, and then I learned that researchers at the King’s College London have found that when we don’t get enough sleep, we consume an extra 385 calories the next day.

We’re not going for the good stuff, either, when we consume those extra calories.  They’re coming from eating foods that are high in fat and low in protein.  Although we’re chowing down on extra calories, we’re expending the same amount of energy we’d use before – basically, we’re not working off the extra calories.

This study didn’t look at long term sleep deprivation, though, which leads to the question of whether-or-not long term sleep deprivation continues to cause an increase calorie intake?  That would link lack of sleep to obesity.  (Don’t worry, further studies are being conducted on this matter).  More information can be read by clicking on the following link:

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/newsevents/news/newsrecords/2016/11%20November-/Sleep-deprivation-may-cause-people-to-eat-more-calories.aspx