为什么睡前你老觉得饿要吃东西?大纲

If you're at all like me, you've eaten a lot of junk food late at night.

你是不是和我一样，在晚上很晚的时候还要吃很多垃圾食品呢？

One explanation for those late-night slices of pizza or burgers has to do with alcohol, which has a disinhibiting effect that makes us crave fat and salt.

有一个解释是，我们晚上吃的那些披萨和汉堡都含有酒精，而酒精则使我们更加渴望脂肪和盐。

But an increasing body of research suggests that exhaustion, too, plays a role, at least in cases when people didn't get enough sleep the night before.

但是越来越多的研究表明，疲惫也会发挥作用，至少是对那些前一晚没有充足睡眠的人。

A study in the journal Sleep in which participants were put on normal sleep or sleep-restricted schedules while their calories were carefully monitored.

《睡眠》期刊中记录了一项实验，参与者分别被分到正常睡眠组和限制性睡眠组，并且详细监测了他们体内的卡路里。

Allison reports: The new study, based on blood samples, documents a novel finding: The daily rhythm of a particular endocannabinoid is altered by a lack of sleep.

阿里森报告称：这一基于血液试样的研究证明了一个新的发现：人体内的花生四烯酸甘油的含量会因缺乏睡眠而改变。

And these changes "could be driving intake for more palatable foods," Erin Hanlon, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago Medical Center, told us.

芝加哥医疗中心大学的神经系统科学家艾瑞森·汉龙告诉我们："而这些变化就是驱使人对美食向往的元凶。"

"We found that sleep restriction boosts a signal that may increase the hedonic aspect of food intake," says Hanlon.

汉龙表示："缺乏睡眠会促使人们增加对美味食物的享受。"

In other words, being sleep deprived may produce a stronger desire to eat.

换言之，睡眠不好会让人更加想吃东西。

We're still a long way from understanding the connections between sleeplessness, stress, and, well, gluttony. But knowing that the "sleep munchies" are probably a real thing with an explainable physical cause can only help those of us trying to improve our droopy-eyed eating habits.

或许我们尚未研究清楚睡眠、压力以及暴饮暴食之间的关系。但了解睡前饥饿感的原因，至少可以帮助我们改善睡眼惺忪还要吃东西的习惯。