Sleepy Teens Eat More Fatty Foods

Zzzzzzz...

According to Dr. Susan Redline, a professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boson, recent studies have shown that less sleep can be linked with obesity in teens. Simply put, teens that sleep fewer than eight hours per night on weeknights tend to eat more fatty food than teens with appropriate sleep habits. The American Academy of Sleep, in fact, recommends that teens get at least nine hours of sleep each night if they want to feel rested and alert during the day.

The study, involving 240 Cleveland area teens ages 16 to 19, showed that teens who slept less than eight hours per weeknight averaged a consumption of 2.2% more calories from fats and 3% fewer calories from carbohydrates than teens who slept eight hours per weeknight more. What's more astonishing is that for each hour added to their sleep, the odds of teens consuming a high number of calories from snacks decreased by an average of 21%!

Aside from snacking, sleeplessness can cause weight gain in other ways as well. Studies have shown that getting less sleep can change one's metabolic rate. This, in turn, can affect the production of two appetite regulating hormones called leptin and ghrelin.

While we've always focused on diet and exercise, it does make me wonder -- could sleep be the missing link in the fight against obesity?

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By: Bambi Blue

Bambi Blue is a freelance writer, editor, and codemonkey living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She moonlights as a jazz musician, a social butterfly, and most apparently a weisenheimer. Loves to cook, hates to clean, and can easily be found on Twitter.