A recent study revealed that lack of sleep leads to snacking. So if you keep searching for that cookie jar to munch your favorite snacks, it is important that you keep a check on your sleeping habit or else you might just end up putting on a lot of weight.

Researchers have found that excessive snacking is actually a result of lack of sleep. Those who get less sleep or those who find it difficult to get sound sleep, end up munching on snacks. Snacking may be termed as a reason to pass the time but this pass time activity may actually be triggered by the lack of sleep and it can lead to severe health problems especially for those who are very particular about their fitness. If you are gaining weight and you have not yet figured out the reason behind that then this is the time to wake up to the reality, before its too late. Time yourself when you sleep, if you see that you are not getting 7 – 8 hours of sleep then you know what is wrong.

It is an important study as it tries to find out how sleep deprivation can cause obesity. The study says that lack of sleep gives rise to excessive intake of high calories which ultimately leads to obesity.

The study was conducted on eleven healthy women and men who agreed to stay in the sleep lab for a period of 28-days which was further divided into two visits of 14 day each. During the first visit of 14- day period, the participants were permitted to sleep for five hours each night. On the next visit they were allowed to sleep for eight hours each night. During both the visits, they were allowed to eat as much food as they wanted that too any time.

Results revealed that when the timings of sleep were restricted to five hours, the participants consumed approximately 1,087 calories a day, from snacking. But when they were given eight hour sleep, the consumption of calories was only 866. During both the visits the total weight gained and the total number of calories consumed was the same. So this study can work as an eye opener for those who are still passing their time munching and snacking and are spending sleepless nights. The American Academy Of Sleep Medicine, recommends that the adults should get eight hours of sleep to stay healthy.

If taking a sound sleep keeps you in shape, why not give it a try?