Sleep deprivation skews food choices and hormones

Dr Cai explains how sleep loss increases hunger, shifts food cravings toward high-calorie foods, and alters insulin and cortisol.

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Episode notes

Boys who slept nine hours or more every night had a lower obesity risk and less dangerous fat.

Synopsis: Every first Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you.

A recent A*Star study found that boys who slept at least nine hours every night had a 51 per cent lower obesity risk and less abdominal fat.

Abdominal fat, particularly fat around internal organs, is more strongly linked to metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease than overall body weight.

Published in the journal Obesity (Oct 2025), the study used MRI imaging to examine how sleep habits relate to fat distribution in 10-year-olds in Singapore.

In this episode, host and ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo finds out more from the study’s authors Dr Cai Shirong and Dr Navin Michael, about the importance of sleep and how sleep deprivation can increase the risk of obesity and overweight in children.

Dr Cai And Dr Navin are principal scientists from the A*Star Institute for Human Development and Potential.

Highlights (click/tap above):

4:48 Does catching up on sleep during the weekend reduce the risk of obesity?

7:07 Why was there a weaker association between sleep deprivation and obesity in girls?

8:00 Prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents

15:45 Why do we prefer burgers over salad when we are sleep deprived?

17:38 Sleep can help regulate cognition in children

19:43 Examples of caffeinated beverages consumed by children

Check out ST's new series, No health without mental health: https://str.sg/mentalhealthmatters

Read Joyce Teo's stories: https://str.sg/JbxN

Host: Joyce Teo (joyceteo@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Amirul Karim