"even short-term, partial sleep deprivation could pave the way for weight gain and other negative metabolic consequences"

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=sleep-deprivation-obesity

How Slight Sleep Deprivation Could Add Extra Pounds

New analysis shows that metabolic effects caused by even a couple nights with less than six hours of shut-eye may feed obesity

By Katherine Harmon

"Getting seven to eight solid hours of sleepeach night might seem an almost impossible luxury to many people. But not getting enough sleep is known to impair mental function and increase the risk for heart disease, among other ill effects. Accumulating evidence also suggests that even short-term, partial sleep deprivation could pave the way for weight gain and other negative metabolic consequences.

More than 28 percent of adults in the U.S. report that they get less than six hours of sleep a night, with this cumulative deprivation becoming more common in the past three decades. And now that more than 35 percent of U.S. adults are currently obese, researchers have been searching for potential links between the two conditions, in hopes of reducing the increasing health and economic burden of obesity."