Body Weight, Sleep, and Food Choices

Abstract

INTRODUCTION It seems that we all are getting busier, with less time to reflect and rest. It almost is thought of as being lazy if someone says that he/she is going to get a little ‘‘rest and relaxation’’ while on vacation, which is why we take vacations in the first place! Yet, the brain is another muscle that also needs rest, just like our skeletalmuscles need a rest day fromworking out. I recently read in The Atlanticmagazine that social scientists have stated that wewould bemost productive if weworked for 52minutes and took a 17-minute break, walking away from our work to give our brains a rest and get our blood flowing (5). In this Nutritionist’s View column, I am going to write about rest but in the form of getting enough sleep with respect to weight gain. I also include studies on food choices and health because sleep and energy balance are both important for a healthy body weight. Furthermore, with less sleep, we tend to make poorer food choices.