Why Your Sleepless Nights Are Sabotaging Your Diet—New Study Reveals the Link

Poor sleep doesn't just leave you tired—it actively sabotages your eating habits. A major UK study of over 27,000 adults found that people who sleep poorly or get less than seven hours nightly are significantly more likely to comfort eat, stress snack, and overeat throughout the day.

How Does Poor Sleep Change Your Eating Habits?

Researchers from Loughborough University and the University of Leicester analyzed real-world eating behaviors alongside sleep patterns in 27,263 UK adults. The results were striking: the worst sleepers had up to 3.5 times higher odds of eating when stressed or bored compared to good sleepers.

Short sleepers—those getting fewer than seven hours nightly—showed particularly problematic patterns. They had 47% higher odds of skipping meals and 24% higher odds of overeating when they did eat. Poor sleep was also linked to eating fried foods 10-21% more often and sweet snacks 10-39% more frequently.

What About People Who Sleep Too Much?

Interestingly, long sleepers (more than eight hours) showed different patterns. While they had 16-19% higher odds of comfort eating, they were less likely to have long gaps without food and ate fried foods and sweet snacks less often than poor sleepers.

The study identified several key eating behaviors linked to poor sleep quality:

• Emotional Eating: Turning to food when feeling stressed, bored, or experiencing low mood
• Meal Skipping: Going long periods without eating, then overeating later
• High-Reward Food Choices: Increased consumption of fried foods and sweet snacks that provide immediate gratification
• Reduced Food Control: Less ability to regulate portion sizes and eating frequency

Why Does Sleep Affect Your Food Choices?

"This study shows that sleep is closely linked to how people eat in everyday life, not just in laboratory settings," said Dr. Scott Willis, Research and Teaching Fellow at the University of Leicester. "Poor quality and short sleep were consistently associated with eating behaviours that may increase the risk of overconsumption and poor diet quality, including emotional eating and reduced control around food."

The researchers found these patterns were consistent across different body weight groups, suggesting that sleep-related eating changes may appear early, even among people who aren't currently overweight. This indicates that poor sleep could be setting the stage for future weight gain and health problems.

Dr. James King, Reader in Clinical Exercise Science at Loughborough University, emphasized the broader implications: "Our research supports the idea that improving sleep factors such as quality and duration could promote healthier eating behaviours and should be considered alongside diet and physical activity in public health approaches."

While this observational study cannot prove that poor sleep directly causes unhealthy eating, it adds to growing evidence that sleep quality plays a crucial role in shaping dietary habits and obesity risk. The findings suggest that getting adequate, quality sleep—seven to eight hours nightly—may be just as important for maintaining a healthy diet as the foods you choose to eat.