How much sleep you get could affect your ability to lose weight—or inability to do so. The secret connection between your amount sleep and your body weight comes down to hormones. When you are sleep deprived, your body experiences a hormone imbalance that negatively influences your metabolism and alters your appetite. This means that less sleep equals more hunger and your sluggish metabolism won’t be able to burn off any extra calories you eat.

Why Does Sleep Deprivation Increase Hunger?

• Lack of sleep is connected to stress. When you don’t get enough sleep, your body will produce a hormone called cortisol, which is the stress-hormone and triggers your appetite.

• Late night snacking is a common problem among insomniacs and night owls. Cutting out your habit of late night eating may even help you fall asleep earlier; otherwise, cutting the habit will still prevent you from gaining excess weight due to sleepless nights.

• Your metabolism suffers when you don’t get enough sleep, so your body will want to store calories as fat instead of immediately use them for energy.

It seems like sleep deprivation a lose-lose situation for your body and mind, so what can you do you improve it? Here are some tips for getting a better night’s sleep: 

• Keep your room dark, quiet and cool to optimize peace of mind and physical comfort.
• Eat dinner at an earlier hour to avoid feeling full or bloated while you’re trying to drift off at night.
• Try to cut out afternoon naps so you will be more tired by bedtime.
• Incorporate more physical activity and exercise into your daily routine so your body is physically exhausted at the end of the day.

Investigators on location at the boat where the second Boston Marathon suspect was found hiding.

The dramatic climax to the manhunt for suspects of the Boston Marathon finds one of two brothers dead, while the second remains hospitalized and unable to speak. Suspect Dzhokar Tarnaev is now conscious and responding to questioning in writing as a gunshot wound to the throat has impaired his ability to speak.

NBC and ABC both reported that Tarneav was writing his responses to questions asked by authorities. The investigation is now considering whether the brothers were involved with any extremist groups. Reports are indicating that Dzhokar may be suggesting that other people were involved in planning the attacks.

Police and FBI officials captured the 19-year-old suspect after a drawn out, high-profile manhunt on Thursday night through Watertown, Massachusetts. The hunt was closely followed by several social media forums including Twitter and Reddit, which provided real-time updates of crowdsourced information about the pursuit as it unfolded on the streets of Watertown. A wounded Dzhokhar was finally found hiding on a covered boat in a backyard in Watertown.

Dzhokar is the surviving brother of the duo accused of planting the bombs that killed 3 and injured over 180 people at the Boston Marathon; his brother, Tamerlan Tsarneav, died Thursday during the police chase, which started when the pair shot and killed and MIT officer. It is believed they had planned more deadly attacks as they had explosives with them, which they launched towards police during the manhunt in addition to exchanging gunfire.

The ethnically Chechen brothers infuriated and broke the hearts of Boston and the world with the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon on April 15^th. Despite his critical condition, the media and public are clinging to the hope that Dzhokar will provide some insight into the twisted logic behind the bombings so that the situation can be better understood and any similar tragedies can be prevented in the future.

However, Boston Mayer Thomas Menino is uncertain that such closure can be attained; he said on Sunday, “We don’t know if we’ll ever be able to question the individual.” At the very least, we can be grateful that the suspect has been detained and the residents of Boston are no longer in immediate danger.