Tuesday 29 January 2013

Why we eat pizza when working late

Ever been in work pulling a late night, trying to get a presentation or tender together and ended up ordering in pizza or munching away on junk food? It turns out we could be hardwired to go for the junk food option when we are tried or sleep deprived.
CBS News report on reseach from Columbia University's Institute of Human Nutrition which explains why eating sweets and chips looks like a better idea for people who haven't had a lot of sleep.
In the study, people who looked at pictures of unhealthy snack food had more brain activity in the reward centers of their brain when they had reduced sleep compared to those who were able to get a full night's sleep.
"The same brain regions activated when unhealthy foods were presented were not involved when we presented healthy foods," says study author Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, an assistant professor at Columbia University. "The unhealthy food response was a neuronal pattern specific to restricted sleep. This may suggest greater propensity to succumb to unhealthy foods when one is sleep restricted."
In the study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were performed on 25 men and women of normal weight. The scans were taken after five days of either sleep restriction (subjects were only allowed to sleep four hours a night), or normal sleep (up to nine hours a night).
While in the scanner, the subjects looked at photos of healthy food, like fruits, vegetables and cereal, and unhealthy food, such as sweets or pepperoni pizza and then non-food items, like office stationary.
Sleep-deprived subjects showed activity in the reward centers of their brains when they saw pictures of unhealthy food. When people were allowed a full night's rest, there was no activation in the rewards center.
So if you run a fast food outlet, a convenience store, or a petrol station near where people come off night shift, advertise a few glossy pictures of your snack options. Business might pick up. If you want to stay healthy, then be extra conscious of what you order when working late or what you take from the fridge after you get home from a long drive.

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