Here’s another reason to get a good night’s sleep — it could
help keep you fit. A new study suggests that poor sleep habits
may affect your risk of becoming overweight because one night of
sleep loss activates a specific brain region that contributes to
a person’s sensation of appetite more than one night of normal
sleep. Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden used magnetic
imaging (fMRI) to study the brains of 12 normal-weight men while
they looked at images of foods. After comparing the results
after a night of normal sleep to those after a night without
sleep, they found that the men with total sleep loss “showed a
high level of activation in an area of the brain that is
involved in a desire to eat.” The authors say these findings
suggest that sleeping about eight hours a night may be important
in order to maintain a healthy body weight.