At fault were the two characters, leptin and ghrelin. Inadequate sleep decreased concentrations of the satiety-signaling hormone leptin and increased levels of the hunger-instigating hormone ghrelin. It was a classic case of physiological double jeopardy: participants were being punished twice for the same offense of short sleeping: once by having the “I’m full” signal removed from their system, and once by gaining the “I’m still hungry” feeling being amplified. As a result, participants just didn’t feel satisfied by food when they were short sleeping.
What did van cauter find out about the imbalance in the hormones for hunger if you didn’t sleep enough?
