A new University of Arizona study has found a link between poor sleep quality and nighttime cravings for food.
Michael Grandner, director of the UA Sleep and Health Research Program who is the lead researcher of the study said “What should I eat at night? This is a perpetual question that people ask me all the time.”
Grandner said normally when you sleep deprive people in a laboratory they crave calories, especially at night. “What seems to happen is the amount of energy you’re craving is much more than the extra energy you’re actually burning. So, that’s where the deficit comes in and where you put on some extra weight.”
Because very few people crave a salad at three o’clock in the morning, Grandner said they tend to turn to junk food which leads to faster weight gain, increasing risks of obesity and diabetes.
The research is being presented at a conference in Baltimore.
