Have inadequate sleep each night can alter in different ways our internal environment and increase the risk of obesity, but beyond stress and other causes can imagine, a recent study reveals another reason why poor sleep leads to obesity: changes in the intestinal flora.

One more reason

Poor sleep can increase the odds of being overweight and obesity by altering our eating patterns, because a disturbed sleep leads to hormones that cause hunger and those that provide satiety are reduced are increased, which suggests that poor sleep makes us eat more.

On the other hand, if not rested well cortisol levels in the body increase and to this stress, our body undergoes changes that become less satisfying and more palatable energy dense foods, as confirmed by American scientists.

But another reason why poor sleep may favor the development of overweight or obesity could be the changes in the intestinal flora. The recently published in the journal Molecular Metabolism study found that after two days of sleep deprivation, the Firmicutes bacteria bactericides were increased and decreased, which has been linked to increased risk of obesity.

A higher proportion of Firmicutes about bactericides can change the process of obtaining energy , increasing it to metabolize food and therefore be the cause of increased weight gain.

Also, after two days of sleep deprivation they were observed lower levels of insulin sensitivity compared to those who slept sufficient number of hours.

Clearly, poor sleep can cause weight gain progressive, because beyond stress and hormonal changes that affect our appetite, inadequate sleep over time can cause changes in the intestinal flora and metabolism.

This study not only confirms that care for the night’s sleep is key to a good weight control, hence besides attending our diet and training, if we want to maintain a healthy weight is essential to achieve adequate sleep every day.