Health, Longevity & Biohacking
Sleep Restriction Triggers Sex-Specific Hunger Hormones Leading to 300 Calorie Overeating
Huberman Lab
Eating for Better Sleep & Foods that Improve Metabolic Health | Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge
"In men specifically, we saw an increase in ghrelin in response to short sleep. So this hormone that triggers food intake. In women, we saw a reduction in GLP-1, interestingly enough, glucagon-like peptide 1. So the satiety hormone was reduced as a result of short sleep in women. And then when we measured their food intake in the lab, they ate 300 calories more in the short sleep condition than when they got their regular adequate sleep."
Columbia researcher Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge revealed that just five nights of four-hour sleep causes men to produce more ghrelin, the hunger hormone, while women experience reduced GLP-1, the natural satiety hormone. Both sexes consumed 300 extra calories daily under sleep restriction in controlled lab conditions. This sex-specific mechanism explains why chronic sleep loss leads to weight gain differently in men versus women.
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Huberman Lab