Insomnia and Sleep Disorders

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Insomnia

General Information

NEWS:

Bad news for insomniacs: 'hunger hormones' affected by poor sleep “To date, no study has evaluated nocturnal levels of the two hormones, ghrelin and leptin, in primary insomnia patients. Ghrelin, a peptide secreted by the stomach, stimulates appetite and increases before meals. Leptin, which affects body weight and is secreted primarily by fat cells, signals the hypothalamus regarding the degree of fat storage in the body; decreased leptin tells the body there is a calorie shortage and promotes hunger, while increased levels promote energy expenditure. In the study, researchers compared healthy sleepers with those suffering from chronic insomnia and measured the levels of the two hormones at various times throughout the night. They found that while leptin levels averaged out over the night to be roughly the same between the two groups, levels of ghrelin were 30 percent lower in insomnia sufferers. On the face of it, a decreased level of ghrelin would seem to inhibit weight gain; it is an increase in ghrelin, after all, that stimulates appetite. But Motivala compared his findings with other, earlier studies on sleep deprivation and speculates that a switch may occur during the day: Sleep loss leads to increased ghrelin and decreased leptin, a "double whammy" that stimulates appetite. Motivala is currently working on a study to examine this switch. “

Lack Of Sleep Could Be More Dangerous For Women Than Men

ARTICLES:

Foods That Help or Harm Your Sleep Slideshow

What is Insomnia? What Causes Insomnia?

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

‘Night owls’: Reset the physiologic clock in delayed sleep phase disorder (Current Psychiatry 2009)

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