Since there is a link between obesity and lack of sleep, is it due to hormonal/metabolism issues, a side effect, or the behavior of those who lack sleep?

Question

Is the link due to?

1. Lack of sleep messing up metabolism and hormones or body recovery?

2. Lack of sleep being an additional problem caused by something else (Stress, overwork, bad diet, etc.), thus lack of sleep becomes more of a sign, and less of a cause, of obesity creating problems?

3. The behavior of those that lack sleep? They’re stressed out, impulsive, prolly work shitty jobs with no free time and therefore gravitate to, or are only provided, fattening junk?

4. Any combination of the three?

I read an article saying night owls die earlier and it just goes on to say “We ALL know night owls drink beer and alchohol, which causes problems” like I’ve never drunk in my life, that wasn’t a genuine study. Is there a similar thing here?

In: Biology

Answer 1

I don’t think there’s any evidence that metabolism is literally downregulated in the sense that your total daily energy consumption is lower (at least for common sleep deprivation in the general population). However, it does absolutely fuck with hormones. This, in turn, makes it much harder to balance your caloric intake and makes you hungrier, along with having less self-control. Most people don’t log and monitor their calorie consumption, so they end up eating a lot more (which there is direct evidence of).

So essentially it’s a behavior alteration issue.