As part of this year's annual conference
Sleep 2012 where professionals who deal with sleep disorders, researchers from
the University of California pointed out that a lack of sleep, disruption of
the lobes of the brain that are responsible for the selection of food. These
findings may help to explain the link between obesity and sleep disorders.
Scientists have gathered 23 volunteers who
participated in the above study, and then spent two functional magnetic
resonance images (fMRI) to record brain activity - after a nearly sleepless
night, and after a night during which participants slept normally. For the
duration of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants were
shown different types of food, and they were asked to rate which of the offered
the most, and you at least want to eat.
Stephanie Greer, lead author of the
research and graduate student at Berkeley, University of California, explained
that the aim of the study was to discover whether sleep disturbances in the
operation of certain lobes of the brain that are responsible for food choices
of individuals. A group of researchers discovered that the brain activity in
the frontal lobe of the brain was significantly reduced when the participants
were suffering from sleep disorders. These results suggest that lack of sleep
can impair higher brain functions that are vital to the selection of quality
food and encourage poor food choices stimulating lobes, which are responsible
for the fulfillment of basic needs.
"We found no significant differences
in the parts of the brain that are responsible for the fulfillment of basic
needs, regardless of the degree of sleep deprivation and sleep disorders. It
seems that the most senior positions in the brain, especially in the frontal
cortex, because of poor sleep, unable to integrate all the signals in the
environment that help people to choose high-quality and healthy foods,
"said Stephanie Greer.
According to her claims, the distortion of the anterior mechanism that
may represent the link between obesity and sleep disorders, and explained it
this way: "These results clearly show that the function of the brain
affected, depending on sleep disorders, and this leads to irregular and poor
choices food that individuals want to consume."