Ever have a bad night's sleep. and then can't stop yourself from gorging on chips, cupcakes, candy bars, and pizza? A new study explains why this might be happening to you (and me!).
Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine looked into why we crave more calorie-dense, high-fat foods when we’re sleep deprived and it turns out the culprit is your schnozz, your sniffer, your NOSE.
Poor sleep affects the olfactory system in two ways. First, it goes into a super sensitive mode where you can tell the difference between food aromas much more easily than normal. Plus, the normal lines of communication between different parts of your brain go haywire.
"When you're sleep deprived, these brain areas may not be getting enough information,” explains senior study author Thorsten Kahnt, “and you're overcompensating by choosing food with a richer energy signal.”
Put another way, your mouth knows how much crap you're putting in there, but your brain doesn't.