Contents page 1 — Why do sleepless nights appetite for Fast Food? Page 2 — 32 subjects – too few to make a General statement On a page
read Wake up After a short night with a hot hunger on chocolate, burgers and other Junk food – as many have already experienced. Not only, then, if alcohol was in the game. So far, a disturbed hormone household was considered as a possible reason for the strange connection. This so-called fatigue the appetite but could also occur differently, as a Team led by a researcher from the University of Cologne, now in the science magazine, the Journal of Neuroscience (Rihm et al., 2018). The researchers found evidence that sleep deprivation activates the reward system in the brain and, therefore, the desire for fatty Snacks boosts.
The negative effects of too little sleep on health are already by several studies. Example, epidemiological studies showed that people with chronic lack of sleep, Obesity is an increased risk for obesity – or type 2 Diabetes. The cause of this, so far, frequently the hormone balance has been seen: Too little sleep take this mess, in consequence of the cravings will be awakened to oily or sweet food, so the adoption.
The Team of Julia Rihm, who has been conducting research in the area of Biological psychology at the University of Cologne, introduced this assumption to the test now. The scientists invited 32 healthy, lean men to the laboratory, where they served them on two evenings, with several days interval for a dinner. Afterwards, the participants were instructed to either go home and normal to bed or to stay in the laboratory, where they were no longer kept awake.
The Morning after, all the subjects in a MRI-tube were investigated by means of magnetic resonance tomography. The activity of your brain recorded while working on a task: The men should explain how great is their willingness to pay for certain Snacks or non-food money. In addition, it was removed from the blood, to measure your hormone levels, and you should classify your feeling of Hunger on a scale.
Jan Peters, also of the University of Cologne and co-author of the study, the joint analysis of these three factors, the special feature of the investigation: “We have collected both hormonal changes as well as the influence on the behavior and effects on the brain,” he explained in an interview with the news Agency dpa.
the researchers found researchers that sleep loss increases the subjective value of food in comparison to food. Although the feeling of Hunger is likely to have been in both experimental groups, since the participants loose in the bedroom as well as the good night’s sleep, the same amount of time without food got, showed a significant difference: With sleep deprivation, the subjects willing goods, more money for Snacks than for non-food spend.
“This effect could be expected on the basis of previous studies,” concludes neuroscientist Peters. However, hormones are responsible for the blood analyses showed. Rather, the MRI showed increased activity in two brain area is the Amygdala located in the temporal lobe of the brain and to the limbic System, as well as in the Hypothalamus located in the diencephalon.
a night of sleep deprivation trigger a cycle, the use of a food-specific, neural reward system, according to the research team. The offer of Snacks seemed like a reward stimulus for the participants of the experiment, the limbic System reacts and here in particular the Amygdala, which affect or pleasure stressed sensations are processed. Why these regions of the brain in the case of bleary-eyed people to be more strongly activated, it must be clarified according to Jan Peters in further experiments.
