When you’re sleep-deprived and find yourself reaching for snacks, it may not be just willpower at play; it could be biology.
New research published in JNeurosci finds that energy loss from lack of sleep may drive both hunger and the urge to “catch up” on rest. The study, led by William Ja, Ph.D., at the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology, used fruit flies to examine how different kinds of sleep deprivation affect later eating and sleeping behavior.
The researchers found that when flies were deprived of sleep in a way that caused an energy deficit, they compensated by both sleeping and eating more to recover. But when the sleep loss didn’t result in energy depletion, there was no rebound in either behavior.
The authors wrote that energy deprivation from lack of sleep appears to drive the urge to eat and sleep more later.
“I think our work adds credence to using less-intrusive, behavioral sleep interventions for alleviating eating and metabolic disorders,” Ja said. “It is possible that by correcting sleep habits, cravings and eating habits will be easier to change.”
The findings underscore the body’s drive to maintain balance between rest and fuel. When sleep debt leaves the body running on empty, it may trigger hunger as a way to replenish lost energy, a pattern many people experience after late nights or disrupted sleep.
Though the study was conducted in fruit flies, the results support a growing body of evidence that sleep quality plays a critical role in metabolic health. Chronic sleep loss in humans has been linked to changes in hormones that regulate hunger and fullness, increased cravings for calorie-dense foods and reduced insulin sensitivity.
Together, the findings suggest that sleep and diet shouldn’t be treated as separate habits. Addressing one may help improve the other, and in turn, overall energy balance.
This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology.