Internal clock – The daily blog of behavioral and cognitive economics

Teen’s Internal Clock Controls Their Cravings

A new study reveals that sleep timing—not just the number of hours slept—is a primary driver of how teenagers eat and move. Researchers followed 373 adolescents and found that “night owls” (those going to bed after midnight and waking after 8 a.m.) consumed more calories, snacked more frequently, and were more sedentary than their early-rising peers. Crucially, the negative impact of late sleep schedules on diet and exercise was twice as strong during the school year, suggesting that forcing teens to fight their natural biological rhythms to meet early school start times creates a cascading effect on their cardiovascular health. ….[READ]