Sleeping Beauty

Writing in the journal Sleep,¹ researchers report that people who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to binge on unhealthy food, leading to an increased risk of obesity. The culprit is a particular brain chemical called 2-AG that is associated with hunger. Researchers compared the level of 2-AG in the blood of sleep deprived subjects with subjects who had slept a normal amount and observed that the sleep deprived subjects had a higher concentration of 2-AG and that it was present for longer. When all the participants in the study were offered snacks, the sleep deprived subjects were more likely to select unhealthy food.

It would be foolish and irresponsible to change your behavior based on a single study with a small sample size, but this research does provide a good excuse to sleep in. So the next time someone tries to get you out of bed, kindly remind them that you need your beauty sleep—and then roll over and continue to snooze.

Translation

睡美人

《Sleep 期刊》¹ 研究員撰文報告，睡眠不足的人，較有可能狂吞暢飲有害健康的食品，導致肥胖的風險提高。罪魁禍首，是一個與飢餓有關，名為 2-AG 的特殊大腦化學物質。研究員比對睡眠受剝奪的研究對象血液中 2-AG 的程度與睡眠量正常者，注意到睡眠受剝奪者的 2-AG 濃度較高，存留時間也較長。當小點心供應給所有研究參與者時，睡眠受剝奪者食物較可能挑選不健康的。

因樣本規模不大的單一研究而改變行為，或許腦殘了些、我行我素。但這項研究確實提供了一個睡懶覺的好藉口。所以，下回有人試著要把你趕下床時，好心提醒他們，你需要美容覺，然後翻過身去，繼續睡你的。