Overeating May Disrupt Your Body Clock
It’s a vicious cycle.
You overeat, your body clock slows down, and instead of sleeping, you eat some more. No wonder it’s so easy to become obese.
According to a new study from Northwestern University and Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, overeating can throw off the timing of your body clock which also affects appetite control.
The researchers tested this in mice on high-fat diets.
As the mice gained weight, their body clocks appeared to be disrupted, causing them to eat more calories when they should have been sleeping or resting instead.
Think of it as a midnight raid on the refrigerator.
A faulty body clock can cause problems for the body and its metabolism which raises the risk of obesity and diabetes.
The problem is that once the body clock is thrown off, it creates a vicious cycle.
You overeat, gain weight, and your body clock slows down.
But the slowing of your body clock then causes you to eat more, so you gain more weight and the entire cycle just keeps getting worse.
With your metabolism adversely affected, you develop a greater chance of becoming obese and diabetic.
With the mice, they ate all the extra food during their normal rest periods instead of with their usual meals.
It only took two weeks for these changes to begin.
Let’s hope it’s not so bleak for humans.
I don’t know about anyone else, but a good, old-fashioned, high-fat Thanksgiving dinner always puts me to sleep when I would normally be awake (not the other way around).
Yet somehow, I always manage to get those extra calories in.
It’s a gift, I tell ya, a gift.
Technorati Tags: overeating, high fat diet, body clock, obesity, diabetes
November 7th, 2007 at 10:49 am
I don’t have a scientific study to prove it, but you want to get your body clock revved up again - EXERCISE! When I get some good exercise time in, I don’t eat as much, I burn a lot of calories, and I sleep great that night. So get your couch potato butt off the couch and get your clock in gear. Rant over!
November 7th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Did someone just join a gym?
November 7th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
If I overeat before I go to bed, I’ll have trouble sleeping and then it’s possible I’ll get up again and eat more food. But I’ve never had a problem if I eat too much during the day.
November 7th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I get sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner, too. It’s something in the turkey.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Stephanie, it’s called L-triptophan (I think, I can’t spell good). That’s what’s in turkey that makes you sleepy.
November 8th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Okay, if that’s true, then the big question for all of us who are already overweight–can we reset the clock? They don’t say anything about that.
November 8th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Resetting the clock, Denise? Is that like going from daylights savings time to normal time again?
That always messes me up.
November 8th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
I’ve been guilty of many midnight raids on the refrigerator in my time. But it’s usually when I can’t sleep because I have problems that are keeping me awake or because I’m hungry when I’m on a diet that’s too strict. I think a lot of overeating is habit, too. Most of the times I overeat isn’t because I’m hungry, I just want something to do. I don’t remember it keeping me up at night, though.
November 8th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
wow I didn’t know that. I guess thats why when I overeat, I get really tired and sometimes fall asleep right after eating.
we can learn a lot from mice I guess.