Sleeping longer ‘reduces’ sugar cravings

Good sleep can reduce your cravings for sugar, says a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

According to the study, increasing your amount of sleep at night has a connection with your sugar consumption.

To make the determination, researchers monitored the sleep and food consumption patterns of 21 volunteers for four weeks.

Of the 21 volunteers, 86 percent were able to increase their nightly rest by up to an hour and a half — and consequently decreased their sugar intake during the day by up to 10 grams.

Each person in the study wore a wrist monitor to record his or her sleep for seven days, and participants also recorded what they ate during this time period.

“We have shown that sleep habits can be changed with relative ease in healthy adults using a personalized approach,” said Haya Al Khatib, the lead researcher and professor in the department of nutritional sciences at King’s College London.

“Our results also suggest that increasing time in bed for an hour or so longer may lead to healthier food choices.”

“Sleep duration and quality is an area of increasing public health concern and has been linked as a risk factor for various conditions.

“We have shown that sleep habits can be changed with relative ease in healthy adults using a personalized approach.”

The volunteers who increased their sleep time also ate fewer carbs when compared to participants who didn’t sleep more, thr study said.