A study reveals that a lack of sleep inflicts an almost immediate weight gain. A lack of sleep is nothing to take lightly. Researchers have recently concluded that losing a few hours of shuteye over the course of several consecutive nights can lead to an almost immediate weight gain. University of Colorado sleep researchers had 16 healthy men and women participate in the two-week long project.During the first 3 days all participants slept 9 hours and ate controlled portions. The next 5 days half of the participants were allowed to sleep nine hours at night while the remaining stayed up past midnight, allowing them to get only 5 hours worth of sleep.The second week, both groups traded places, meaning the sleep deprived got an extra four hours.Those who got the least amount of sleep ended up eating way more than their rested counterparts. When they did not receive enough sleep, the participants overate carbohydrates later in the night, presumably to make up for the energy loss. The lead researcher states “When people are sleep-restricted, our findings show they eat during their biological nighttime when internal physiology is not designed to be taking in food.” Too little sleep resulted in an average 6 percent daily caloric increase.