Your bad sleep may be the cause of your bad habits

Your bad sleep may be the cause of your bad habits

Hundreds of millions around the world suffer from insufficient and low-quality sleep. A lack of quality sleep is more than an inconvenience, as research findings increasingly show that good sleep plays a key role in maintaining healthy minds and bodies, Psychology Today reported.

A lack of quality sleep leads to a wide range of consequences, from poor focus to poor mood, and can lead to changes in parts of the brain that promote poor food choices.

Serious consequences

That's why experts recommend getting enough quality sleep each night, and they recommend simple steps that include sticking to a consistent sleep schedule, keeping bedrooms dark and cool, and following a relaxing routine before bed that minimizes exposure to artificial light.
One of the major consequences of sleep problems is that a previously unknown pathway can directly affect a person's health through their dietary choices. Here are some of the main factors that link poor sleep to dietary choices:

Preferring unhealthy foods

In a 2020 study, researchers tested whether there was a link between poor sleep and people's preference for sugary foods. After getting good sleep or being sleep deprived, participants were asked to taste five separate samples with varying amounts of added sugar.

The researchers discovered that the participants, who didn't get enough sleep, had a stronger preference for sugary options. And the same group of participants, who were deprived of good sleep, tended to choose foods with more calories than carbohydrates for breakfast.
Less fruits and vegetables
Another study from 2022, published in the scientific journal Sleep, looked at the effect of lack of sleep on teens' food preferences. The results revealed that among the teens who got 6.5 hours of sleep per night (versus 9.5 hours), there was a greater consumption of added sugars and carbohydrates and lower consumption of fruits and vegetables.

glucose problems

Once unhealthy foods are eaten, the lack of sleep seems to make it difficult for the human body to process them. Specifically, poor quality sleep has been linked to more problems with handling glucose in diets, which means there are higher blood sugar levels for longer periods of time, both of which may be dangerous to overall health and brain health.
overweight
In a review of studies published in 2018, researchers concluded that sleep restriction significantly increased hunger, calorie consumption, and even weight gain. The same or similar results have been replicated in other studies as well. A 2021 review of 50 separate studies concluded that sleep restriction leads to increased calorie intake, number of food intake, and amount of food eaten at each meal.

appetite-related hormones

One of the biggest reasons why poor sleep is linked to changes in increased calorie intake could be related to certain hormones associated with appetite. It has been consistently proven that certain hormones secreted by the gut play a large role in hunger levels. Perhaps most importantly, high levels of a hormone called ghrelin have been linked to increased hunger and calorie consumption.

The sleep deprived brain

In one study, researchers discovered that compared to well-rested people, those who were deprived of sleep had increased activity in a part of their brain called the anterior cingulate cortex when they looked at pictures of food. This activation is directly related to human subjective hunger.
Other research has shown that poor sleep is linked to changes in brain activity in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which plays a particularly important role in decisions about nutrition, as it is key to healthy self-control.

It is also interesting that good sleep promotes the elimination of accumulated waste in the brain. Recent research has shown that sleep deprivation significantly impairs this process. It is thought that the process of removing waste products can affect levels of inflammation in the brain, which is notable because higher inflammation is associated with more impulsive decision-making. Disorders of waste disposal in the brain as a result of lack of sleep have already been linked to long-term effects on brain health, but as scientific research expands, it may turn out that there is an additional link between the effect of lack of sleep on brain function, which is reflected in daily decision-making.