LONDON: Lack of sleep can be harmful as it can make participants feel less full after eating and metabolise the fat in food differently, says a study, adding to the mounting evidence that how harmful lack of sleep can be. The study found that sleep disruption has been known to be have harmful effects on metabolism for some time. Orfeu Buxton, a professor at Penn State, added that long-term sleep restriction puts people at a higher risk of obesity and diabetes.
Kelly Ness, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, ran the study when she was a graduate student in Buxton’s lab. She and other researchers not only collected, data but also spent time, “interacting with the subjects, playing games with them, talking with them — helping to keep them awake and engaged and positive.”
To find out how the uncomfortable schedule affected metabolism, the researchers gave participants a standardised high-fat dinner, a bowl of chili mac, after four nights of sleep restriction. “It was very palatable — none of our subjects had trouble finishing it — but very calorically dense,” Ness said, adding that most participants felt less satisfied after eating the same rich meal while sleep deprived than, when they had eaten it well-rested. — IANS
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