More on sleep deprivation and weight gain

A recent article in Medscape Neurology and Neurosurgery, "The Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Hormones and Metabolism" provides additional information on sleep habits, the endocrine system and weight gain. Apparently with lack of sleep, your hormones are telling you that there is famine in the land, so you better start eating!

"Sleeping and feeding are intricately related. Animals faced with food shortage or starvation sleep less;[8] conversely, animals subjected to total sleep deprivation for prolonged periods of time increase their food intake markedly.[9] Recent studies in humans have shown that the levels of hormones that regulate appetite are profoundly influenced by sleep duration. Sleep loss is associated with an increase in appetite that is excessive in relation to the caloric demands of extended wakefulness.

The regulation of leptin, a hormone released by the fat cells that signals satiety to the brain and thus suppresses appetite, is markedly dependent on sleep duration. After 6 days of bedtime restriction to 4 hours per night, the plasma concentration of leptin was markedly decreased, particularly during the nighttime.[10] The magnitude of this decrease was comparable to that occurring after 3 days of restricting caloric intake by approximately 900 kcal/day. But the subjects in the sleep-restriction condition received identical amounts of caloric intake and had similar levels of physical activity as when they were fully rested. Thus, leptin levels were signaling a state of famine in the midst of plenty."

So, apparently some of the obesity in our modern era may be due to not enough ZZZZZs, not just overeating. Perhaps when we don't see fat people in those old family photos it is because it was expensive to burn kerosene lamps, or there was no artificial light so you could party or work late, so everyone went to bed early?