Zzzzzz*

Sure, I could have called it The Science Of Sleep (like the picture from the film), but while the movie was visually stimulating, I didn't like it that much. Nevertheless, recent studies suggest an extra hour between the sheets at night might be the key to shedding excess weight and fighting obesity. Food coma, for real?

Nearly 30 surveys carried in seven countries have underlined a link between lack of sleep and excess weight or obesity in both children and adults. Two key hormones produced at night which help regulate appetite are at play. Grehlin makes people hungry, slows metabolism and decreases the body's ability to burn body fat, and leptin, a protein hormone produced by fatty tissue, regulates fat storage. Less sleep (two four-hour nights) caused an 18% loss of appetite-cutting leptin and a 28% increase of appetite-causing grehlin. Such changes made people hungry for foods heavy in fats and sugars such as chips, biscuits, cakes and peanuts.

The sleep loss caused a 23 to 24% increase in hunger, translating into an extra 350 to 500 kilocalories a day, which for a young sedentary adult of normal weight could lead to a major amount of added weight. It was unclear whether several years of sleep deprivation could lastingly harm the body's ability to restore a balance between the two hormones.

A study released in Washington in February also showed children lacking shut-eye faced a greater risk of becoming obese than kids who got a good night's sleep. Each extra hour of sleep cuts a child's risk of becoming overweight or obese by 9%. By contrast, children who got the least sleep had a 92% higher chance of being overweight or obese than children who slept enough. So what if that's about 101% total...that's close enough for science!

Some research recommends that children under five years old sleep 11 hours or more a day, while children age five to 10 should get 10 or more hours of sleep, and children older than 10 should sleep at least nine hours. I can't remember the last time I had nine hours of sleep, but it sure didn't come after one of the usual nine hour-plus days of work.

May "Dragonaut" by Sleep haunt your slumber (their 50 minute, six part "Jerusalem" will keep you up all night).