By Staff Reports
(Hawaii)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Feeling tired and feeling hungry seem to go together, and a researcher at the University of Chicago has an idea why. Erin Hanlon saw this in nine people who spent 13 nights in a sleep lab, gave blood for analysis, and ate a controlled number of calories.
Hanlon examined a chemical called 2-AG, which is part of a system that has a role in enjoyment, such as enjoying eating. She says that, when people were allowed less sleep, their levels of 2-AG were higher in mid-afternoon – as in mid-afternoon snack time.
So she says:
“Individuals need to think of adequate sleep as an important aspect of maintaining good health, and not just as a byproduct of the day.”
The study presented at a meeting of The Endocrine Society was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at healthfinder.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.