According to a recent study by Australian researchers sleep deprivation can cause people to gain weight.
The new research by scientists at the University of South Australia has revealed that though their appetites had decreased the study participants gained weight when their sleep was restricted.
The researchers say despite free access to food, sleep restriction resulted in a decrease in appetite, food cravings and food consumption but the participants nevertheless gained weight over the 11 day course of the study which they say suggests that sleep restriction causes energy intake to exceed energy expenditure.
The study involved 92 healthy individuals between the ages of 22 and 45 years and 52 of them, all men, participated in laboratory controlled sleep restriction which involved two nights of baseline sleep (10 hours in bed per night), five nights of sleep restriction and varying recovery for four nights - 9 well rested participants served as controls - participants had three regular meals per day and access to healthy snacks, and during nights of sleep restriction subjects were given a small sandwich at one a.m.
The study found that more than 70% of the sleep deprived participants said their appetite decreased by day 5 of the study but they experienced an average weight gain of 1.31 kilograms over the study period regardless of a change in their appetite and food consumption.
According to lead investigator Siobhan Banks, PhD, a research fellow at the University of South Australia and former assistant research professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, a control group of well rested subjects did not experience the weight gain.