For those looking to loose weight, how long you sleep for has a direct effect on how much you eat—consequently on how much weight you can loose.

According to a new analysis of the relationship between sleep and food, the less shut-eye a person gets, the more they eat and this can lead to problems like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease in the long run, the researchers added.

Apparently, when a person is tired, the hormones controlling appetite are affected, so that person feels more hungry.

Writing in the Journal of Health Psychology, the study’s authors, Alyssa Lundahl and Timothy D Nelson, of the University of Nebraska, said: ‘It is well recognised that food intake is implicated in many chronic health issues including obesity, diabetes and heart disease, and diet is often a target of treatment to prevent the onset of these conditions.

‘Understanding the mechanisms linking disrupted sleep patterns to increased food intake is important for informing both prevention and treatment interventions for chronic health conditions.’

So if you want to cut down the food you eat, it’s prudent to sleep more since the researchers claim that the amount of food a person eats is driven by biological, emotional, cognitive and environmental factors—and these factors are heavily altered and influenced by how much sleep a person get.

The next time you are eating a lot, just check how long you slept for or if it’s time to sleep…