Lose weight while you sleep. Sounds like something you’d like to hear in a late night Infomercial - just when they are reaching for that bag of cookies because, well, you can not sleep.

However, as wild as the idea sounds, substantial medical evidence suggests some fascinating links between sleep and weight. The researchers say that much sleep and quite possibility the quality of your sleep quietly in May orchestrate a symphony of hormonal activity linked to his appetite.

“One of the most interesting ideas that has been burning up and is now gaining momentum is the recognition of the fact that sleep and sleep disorders do remarkable things in the body - including the ability to influence our weight,” says David Rapoport, MD, associate professor and director of the Sleep Medicine Program at New York University School of Medicine in New York.

Although doctors have long known that many hormones are affected by sleep, Rapoport said it was not until recently that appetite entered the picture. What brought into the spotlight, he said, was research on the hormones ghrelin and leptin. First, doctors say they both can influence our appetite. And studies show that the production of both may be influenced by how much or how little sleep.

In fact, you have never experienced a sleepless night followed by a day when no matter what you ate never felt full or satisfied? If so, then you’ve experienced the functioning of leptin and ghrelin.

How do the hormones of her dream

Leptin and ghrelin work in a kind of “checks and balances” system to control feelings of hunger and fullness, explains Michael Breus, PhD, a professor at the Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine and director of the Sleep Disorders Center Southeastern Lung Care in Atlanta. Ghrelin, which occurs in the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates appetite, while leptin, produced in fat cells, sends a signal to your brain when you are full.

So what is the connection to sleep? “When you do not get enough sleep, which boosts levels of leptin, which means you do not feel satisfied after eating. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means that your appetite is stimulated by they want more food, “Breus tells WebMD.

The two combined, he said, could lay the groundwork for overeating, which in turn can lead to weight gain.

Education: Those who sleep less weigh more often

How the hormones ghrelin and leptin lay the groundwork for excess has been recently explored in two studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Stanford University in California.

In the Chicago study, doctors measured the levels of leptin and ghrelin in 12 healthy men. It also noted their hunger and appetite levels. Shortly afterwards, men were subjected to two days of sleep deprivation followed by two days of the expansion of sleep. During this time the doctors continued to monitor the levels of hormones, appetite and activity.

The end result: When sleep is limited, levels of leptin decreased levels of ghrelin and rose. Not surprisingly, the appetite of the men also increased proportionately. His desire for high-carbohydrate, calorie dense foods increased by a whopping 45%.

It was in the Stanford study, however, that the more provocative sense of leptin, ghrelin effect came to light. In this research - a joint project between Stanford and the University of Wisconsin - about 1,000 volunteers reported the number of hours they slept each night. Doctors then measured their levels of ghrelin and leptin, as well as your weight drawn.

The result: Those who slept less than eight hours a night not only had lower levels of leptin and higher levels of ghrelin, but also had higher levels of body fat. What is more, this level of body fat seems to correlate with their sleep patterns. Specifically, those who slept fewer hours per night weighed more.

Eat and sleep apnea: the new connection

As a result of these and other studies, researchers began to theorize that increasing the dream can only be the answer to the growing society of the waist. But before that trade the cost of your membership to a gym for an expensive new mattress, take note: The experts also say that the relationship is not as obvious as it seems.

The reason: Enter the somewhat mysterious ailment night known as “obstructive sleep apnea.” People with sleep apnea may stop breathing for up to a minute, sometimes hundreds of times during the night while you sleep, said Sunday Roca, MD, director of the Connecticut Center for Sleep Medicine at Stamford Hospital.

Although the exact cause of the problem remains unknown, rock and others believe that in most cases, physical abnormalities inside the mouth and neck of the cause of soft tissue at the back of the throat to collapse. It briefly closed the airways several times overnight, causing disruptions in breathing and a tendency to snore.

The end result: While you can go to bed early and think you are getting a good night’s rest, the interruption in breathing prevents you from getting deep sleep. Eight hours of closing their eyes disturbed can leave you feeling as if there were only four.

“You wake up feeling tired and continue to feel tired all day,” Roca tells WebMD.

The link between sleep apnea and weight

So what makes sleep apnea are linked to weight gain?

First, said Roca, patients who suffer from sleep apnea are more likely to be obese. However, studies show that they do not have the habit of low levels of leptin are associated with overweight. In fact, Roca said that people with sleep apnea have uncharacteristically high levels of leptin.

What’s more, if your apnea is, the levels of leptin fall - and it somehow helps them lose weight.

“I’ve had about thirty patients, when successfully treated for sleep apnea were able to lose weight - possibly because they had more energy, so they were more active, and only ate less,” says Breus.

So why not lower leptin seem to cause weight gain in some people while allowing others to lose weight? One theory says that it may not be the level of this hormone is important both as a person of the individual response to it. In the same way that obese people can become resistant to insulin, people with apnea may be resistant to the fullness of the leptin signal that sends to the brain.

“It’s like your body is trying to tell you to stop eating, but your brain is not receiving the message,” says Breus.

Another theory: The response to leptin may be more individual than what we think. Experts say that our environment, dietary habits, exercise patterns, stress levels and staff, in particular, our genetics can influence the production of leptin and ghrelin, as well as our response to them.

The fact that we simply do not know the causes at least some experts to see all the research on sleep and weight with a cautious or skeptical eye.

“There is a serious problem for the closure of the loop. This is not to say that what we know about leptin and ghrelin is not important, or that when they finally do understand that it will not be crystal clear - but now it is not fair,” Rapoport tells WebMD.

Breus agrees: “I think it is likely to find that bad sleep issues, but they will most likely be bad sleep and some other problems. I do not think we know what they are yet.”